George Frederick Barker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1835 7 14 Charlestown, Massachusetts |
| Died | 1910 5 24 |
| Occupation(s) | American, physicist, and scientist |
George Frederick Barker (July 14, 1835, inCharlestown, Massachusetts[1] – May 24, 1910) was anAmericanphysician andscientist.
He graduated from theYale Scientific School in 1858. He was successively chemical assistant inHarvard Medical School in 1858–1859 and 1860–1861,professor ofchemistry andgeology inWheaton (Ill.) College. In 1864 he became the Professor of Natural Science at theWestern University of Pennsylvania, now known as theUniversity of Pittsburgh, where he undertook experiments to produce electric light by passing the current through a resisting filament which he claimed was "the first steady electric light generated inPittsburgh, if not in the country".[2] He subsequently went to Yale as a professor ofphysiological chemistry andtoxicology, and later was a professor ofphysics at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, in 1879–1900, when he becameemeritus professor. He served aspresident of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science in 1879; president of theAmerican Chemical Society; vice-president of theAmerican Philosophical Society (elected 1873)[3] for 10 years; a member of the United States Electrical Commission; and for several years an associate editor of theAmerican Journal of Science. He lectured in many cities and wrote aText-Book of Elementary Chemistry (1870); aPhysics (1892); and more.
In a history of the University of Pennsylvania published upon its bicentennial in 1940, the historianEdward Potts Cheyney recalled the piecemeal entry of women into the university, initially as auditors only, and noted, as Cheyney himself witnessed, that "in the lectures on physics in 1881 two young women sat meekly in a distant corner while Professor Barker was describing the new inventions of the electric light and telephone."[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "George Frederick Barker".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
Media related toGeorge Frederick Barker at Wikimedia Commons
Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Barker, George Frederick".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 211.| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
