Julius Erasmus Hilgard (January 7, 1825 – May 8, 1891) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
-
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
.
Biography
Julius Erasmus Hilgard was born at
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
,
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
on January 7, 1825.
His father,
Theodore Erasmus Hilgard Theodore Erasmus Hilgard (7 July 1790, Marnheim – 14 February 1873, Heidelberg) was a lawyer, viticulturalist and Latin farmer.
Europe
He grew up during the Napoleonic Wars in a family very sympathetic to the principles of the French revolution. ...
, was for many years Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, but on account of his liberal opinions was so dissatisfied with conditions in his native country that in 1835 he emigrated to America. The journey from his native place to Havre was made in wagons. After a voyage of 62 days, the family landed at New Orleans at Christmas, and journeyed up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and thence to a farm at Belleville, Illinois. As the oldest son, Julius gave valuable help by his practical talents. His education was carried on at home. Music, chemistry, ancient and modern languages and mathematics (the higher branches of the latter being studied without outside help), occupied his attention until 1843, when he went to Philadelphia to study engineering and to obtain employment. In that city he made the acquaintance of Professor Bache, and commenced a lifelong friendship with
Elisha Kent Kane
Elisha Kent Kane (February 3, 1820 – February 16, 1857) was a United States Navy medical officer and Arctic explorer. He served as assistant surgeon during Caleb Cushing's journey to China to negotiate the Treaty of Wangxia and in the Af ...
, the arctic explorer.
The first work obtained was in the preliminary surveys of the Bear Mountain Railroad. Soon, however, Professor Bache, recognizing his abilities, procured young Hilgard a position in the
United Staes Coast Survey, in which service he continued, with short interruptions, until his death. In the field work, in computations and investigations in the office, in the publication of the records and results of the Survey, in his influence on political leaders, Mr. Hilgard rendered highly intelligent and valuable aid to the service. Throughout the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
he served the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
and
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
by the construction of maps and charts and by surveys as well as by tidal and other information. During the failing health of Professor Bache, Hilgard, who was at that time the in charge of the U.S. Coast Survey office, was obliged to perform the duties of superintendent, which he did without extra compensation until the appointment of Benjamin Peirce to the position. Though it seems fitting that Hilgard should have become superintendent upon the death of Bache, he did not receive the appointment until 1881, by which time the agency had been renamed the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...
. At that time his health was so impaired that, as he said, "it came too late." He was soon forced to resign. While assistant superintendent, his work in the Office of Weights and Measures gained him most favorable notice in Europe and he was invited to the directorship of an International Bureau of Weights and Measures about to be established in Paris. Declining this, but continuing his connection with the International Committee, a beautiful Sèvres vase was presented to him by President Theirs on behalf of the French Government in recognition of his services. He also had great satisfaction in being instrumental in bringing to a successful ending the operations for the telegraphic determination of transatlantic longitudes.
In 1863, Hilgard was elected as a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
In 1872 he was one of the members of the International Metric Commission at Paris and was made a member of the permanent committee. In 1875, he was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Among his other valuable services, Hilgard delivered in 1876 a course of twenty lectures at Johns Hopkins University on the subject of "Extended Territorial Surveying."
Resigning his position as superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in July 1885, he lived in retirement, and died at Washington, D.C., on May 8, 1891.
Projects
One of the projects on which J.E. Hilgard worked, on behalf of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
and the U.S. Coast Survey, was the construction of a
self-recording magnetometer of
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
manufacture based on the design
[On the Automatic Registration of Magnetometers, and other Meteorological Instruments, by Photography.](_blank)
By Charles Brooke, M.B., F.R.C.S., Pages 69-77, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Part 1 (1847) of
Charles Brooke, and described in an 1860 report to the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. The significance of
self-recording magnetometers, as they relate to
geomagnetic storms
A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.
The disturbance that d ...
was not fully understood until the late Twentieth Century and is not referenced in any of the Ninetieth Century biographies of J.E. Hilgard. In 1859, the self-recording magnetometer at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
may have been only the second such device in operation, the original one being under the management of
Balfour Stewart
Balfour Stewart (1 November 182819 December 1887) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist.
His studies in the field of radiant heat led to him receiving the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society in 1868. In 1859 he was appointed director of K ...
at the
Kew Observatory
The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London. Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatory founded by King George III. T ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Unlike the instruments at the
Kew Observatory
The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London. Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatory founded by King George III. T ...
, it is unlikely that the instruments at the Smithsonian were in continuous operation during any part of 1859.
Alexander Dallas Bache
Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and surveyor who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army ...
was the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey at the time and sponsored many studies pertaining to
terrestrial magnetism
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic fi ...
.
Geophysics
, The Coast and Geodetic Survey Annual Reports 1844 - 1910 Bibliography of Appendices Records show that Bache
Places
*Bache, Cheshire
*Bache Peninsula, on Ellesmere Island, Canada
People
*Richard Bache (1737–1811), an American Postmaster General
* Sarah Franklin Bache (1743–1808), his wife and Benjamin Franklin's daughter
**Benjamin Franklin Bache ...
was in regular correspondence with the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and even coordinated magnetic surveys of North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
with them.
References
*
External links
* " Sketch of Professor Hilgard," ''Popular Science Monthly
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, inclu ...
'', Volume 7, September 1875
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilgard, Julius Erasmus
People of the American Civil War
1825 births
1891 deaths
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
German emigrants to the United States
American engineers