Benjamin Silliman Jr. (December 4, 1816 – January 14, 1885) was a professor of chemistry at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and instrumental in developing the
petroleum industry
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...
.
His father
Benjamin Silliman
Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an American chemist and science education, science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, the first science professor at Yale University, Yale, and the firs ...
Sr., also a famous Yale chemist, developed the process of
fractional distillation
Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions. Chemical compounds are separated by heating them to a temperature at which one or more fractions of the mixture will vaporize. It uses distillation ...
that enabled the economical production of
kerosene
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
. In 1855, Silliman Jr. wrote a report for $526.08 on Pennsylvania
rock oil and its usefulness as an illuminant that convinced investors to back
George Bissell's search for oil.
Introduction
In the 1850s the market for light-producing liquid fuels was dominated by
coal oil and by an increasingly inadequate supply of
whale oil
Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop").
Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...
. However,
George Bissell, a lawyer from New York, his partner
Jonathan Greenleaf Eveleth, and James Townsend, a New Haven bank president, had a revolutionary idea. They thought there was a possibility of the crude "rock oil" (now
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
) that had been cropping up in
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...
being used as an illuminatory substance. At the time, rock oil was nothing but a smelly hindrance to the well-diggers of the region, with some limited medicinal properties. Yet Bissell and Eveleth, after realizing how flammable the liquid was, believed there was great money to be made in producing rock oil commercially, marketed as lamp fuel and such. But they needed someone—an important, well-respected scientist—whose name they could attach to their financial venture, to research the material to find out whether or not it could be used in such a manner. They found Benjamin Silliman Jr., professor of chemistry at Yale.
Chemical contribution
Benjamin Silliman's primary contribution to the chemical world, and certainly the world as a whole, involved the
fractional distillation
Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions. Chemical compounds are separated by heating them to a temperature at which one or more fractions of the mixture will vaporize. It uses distillation ...
of petroleum, analyzed mainly for the purpose of its qualities of illumination. He was asked to do this as one of the most prominent chemists of his time, and his report on the subject afterwards had extremely far-reaching influences. The immensely important main idea of his report was that distilled petroleum burned far brighter than any fuel on the market, except those that were far more expensive and less efficient. His conclusion was that petroleum is "a raw material from which...they may manufacture a very valuable product." Silliman also noted that this material was able to survive through large ranges of temperature, and the possibility of it being used as a lubricant.
[
]
Impact of contribution
The impact of the discovery of petroleum as a high-quality illuminator is obvious. At the time, however, Bissell and Eveleth simply brought some people together to form the " Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company"- shortly after to be renamed the "Seneca Oil Company," after another common, regional name for petroleum. Edwin Drake was in charge of drilling the well, and after many setbacks, generally revolving around the lack of money, he struck oil in quiet, rural, Titusville, Pennsylvania on August 27, 1859. The scenery of Titusville changed almost overnight. Oil derricks and towns filled with get-rich-quick speculators filled the newly named Oil Creek. The holes were generally unremarkable, especially by the standards of today; the first probably only gathered less than 50 barrels of oil a day. However, the influence of these oil wells, and Benjamin Silliman Jr.'s report confirming the use of petroleum as an illuminant, was massive. Almost equally important in Bissell's idea and Silliman's discovery was the use of rock oil for lubrication of the many moving parts in the mechanical age soon to come.[
]
Mining consultant
Silliman's fame as an oil pioneer put him in great demand as a consultant to mining companies, a line of work in which he was much less successful. His great overestimate of the ore reserves in the Emma mine near Alta, Utah
Alta is a town in eastern Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 228 at the 2020 census, a large decrease from the 2010 figure of 383.
Alta is centered in ...
contributed to a financial fiasco for British investors when the mine exhausted its ore years ahead of Silliman's prediction. He also reported very optimistically on the mines at Lake Valley, New Mexico, which were also money-losers for shareholders.
Influences
Benjamin Silliman Sr. was clearly the largest inspiration in Benjamin Silliman Jr.'s career. Both Sillimans were eminent chemists and professors of the subject at Yale University. The father was the first professor of chemistry at Yale in 1802, and studied the subject at the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
. He was also professor of natural history—which was defined as geology, mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
, zoology, and botany—all of which he studied at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. His work in those areas established Yale's rock and mineral collection as the most significant in America at the time. With his help, Yale became the foremost center of science in 19th-century America. Benjamin Silliman Sr. is considered by many to be the father of American chemistry. With the exception of Silliman Jr.'s involvement in the oil boom, there are many similarities between the careers of both Sillimans.
Silliman's wife, Susan Huldah Forbes, was a descendant of Joel Root, an early entrepreneur and supercargo on the sealing ship Huron. Root wrote a journal, ''A Voyage Around the World Made by Joel Root 1802-1806'', later published in a limited edition of eight copies by Alice Belknap Hawkes, descendant of the Silliman, Root, and Forbes families.
Silliman's daughters, Alice and Susan, were the first two students to enroll at the Yale School of Fine Arts when it opened in 1869.
See also
* '' The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power''
References
*"Benjamin Silliman." ''Dictionary of American Biography Base Set.'' American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Silliman, Benjamin Jr.
American chemists
Founders of the petroleum industry
Businesspeople from New Haven, Connecticut
Petroleum in the United States
1816 births
1885 deaths
Burials at Grove Street Cemetery
Yale University alumni
Yale University faculty
Sheffield Scientific School faculty
19th-century American businesspeople
Silliman family
Members of Skull and Bones