Joseph Caldwell (April 21, 1773 – January 27, 1835) was a

U.S. 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 territori ...

educator,

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister,

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

. He was the first president of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, holding the office from 1804 until 1812, and from 1816 until his death in 1835.

Early life and ministry

Caldwell was born in Lamington, New Jersey and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

) as Latin salutatorian in 1791. After graduation he worked as a tutor and was an assistant teacher in Elizabethtown before studying for the ministry and obtaining a license to preach from the Presbytery of New Brunswick. He was ordained in North Carolina in 1811. On October 5, 1822, the North Carolina Synod (Presbyterian) created the Education Society of North Carolina for "the education of indigent and pious youth for the ministry of the gospel", appointing Caldwell as its president.

Educator at the University of North Carolina

He became the presiding professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1797 and later became its president. After writing the textbook ''A Compendious System of Elementary Geometry (''1822) and other academic works, Caldwell went on to write a series of letters, some under the pen name "Carlton", to advocate for a public education system and for improved transportation in North Carolina.

"Carlton"

In "The Numbers of Carlton", a set of 22 essays written in 1827-1828, Caldwell presented mathematical analyses to show that a building a central railroad for North Carolina would have economic and accessibility advantages over a system of canals. These essays, distributed as pamphlets and compiled in book form (in 1828) were influential in winning public support for the railroad. Newspapers like the Raleigh Register and the

Hillsborough Recorder The ''Hillsborough Recorder'' was established by Dennis Heartt in Hillsborough, North Carolina, in February 1820, with the first known edition of the newspaper being issued on March 1, 1820. At the time, there was no newspaper being published wes ...

published them weekly.

Astronomer

In 1809, Caldwell was appointed as the "Astronomer" to the commission determining the boundary between North and South Carolina. When the university declined his request to fund an astronomy program, he purchased telescopes from France with his own money in 1824. When he constructed the university's astronomical observatory in 1830 in his backyard, it was the first one built solely for educational purposes in the United States.

Legacy

In 1841, Caldwell County in western North Carolina was named for him. In October 2013 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted a display to commemorate the role of Masons in the establishment of the first public university in the United States. Among items on display were the 18th- and 19th-century papers from Eagle Lodge No. 19 in Hillsborough documenting the applications, or “petitions,” of UNC's first President Joseph Caldwell to receive the first and second degrees of Masonry.

Gallery

Joseph Caldwell Monument 4.jpg, Monument to Joseph Caldwell on UNC campus, with Davie Poplar in the background

References

External links

Autobiography and Biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D., L.L.D., First President of the University of North Carolina.
Chapel Hill, .C. J.B. Neathery, 1860.
Joseph Caldwell Papers
at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Joseph 1773 births 1835 deaths 18th-century American mathematicians 19th-century American mathematicians 19th-century astronomers Leaders of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill