Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Thomas Corwin MENDENHALL
Thomas was born on a farm, the son of Quaker parents. He grew up in a community that was intensely anti-slavery during a period when grave public questions were matters of wide and earnest discussion. He was largely self-educated, his formal education being limited to the local public schools and to a short period in the Southwest Normal School at Lebanon, OH, from which he graduated in 1861.
Following his graduation he taught mathematics and science in various high schools of his native state, meanwhile studying physics and higher mathematics privately. Possessed of the power of lucid presentation and imbued with enthusiasm for experimentation, he met with such success as a teacher
that he was elected in 1873 to the chair of physics and mechanics in the newly founded Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (later Ohio State University) at Columbus. He told how, on the first day of class, he used a carpenter's bench as his lectern and his own dinner pail to illustrate a principal of physics.
In addition to his teaching, he was active in popularizing science through the organization of scientific societies and through popular lectures. At this time, scientific education in the middle west was in its infancy, and by his ability as a teacher, his interest in research, and his charm as a lecturer he was
instrumental in furthering to a marked extent the spread of science.
In 1878 he was called to the chair of physics at the Imperial University at Tokyo, Japan. There he remained three years, during which time he established a physical laboratory and a meteorological observatory. He was also influential in organizing a seismological society and in inaugurating a system of popular lectures. While in Japan he measured the absolute force of gravity at Tokyo and the relative force of gravity between Tokyo and Fujiyama. From these measurements he determined the mean density of the earth, his result representing the best value obtained by this method at that time.
Returning to the United States in 1881, he again occupied the chair of physics in the Ohio State University until 1884, at the same time organizing and directing the State Weather Bureau. In the next two years he served as professor of electrical science in the United States Signal Corps at Washington, in which connection he organized and equipped a physical laboratory, made systematic
observations on atmospheric electricity, and established the systematic collection of data relating to earthquakes. In 1886 he left Washington to assume the office of president of Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, IN, remaining there three years, during which time his book, A Century of Electricity, was published.
In 1889, President Harrison appointed him superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, in which position he made his influence felt both as scientist and as administrator. As scientist he was responsible for the development of an improved portable apparatus for the measurement of
gravity, which permitted the determination of the relative force of gravity with greater facility and accuracy, and under his plans a transcontinental series of gravity measurements were made. He was the first to propose the use of the ring pendulum for the measurement of the absolute force of gravity, a method which is now receiving considerable attention. As administrator he was responsible for
inaugurating and maintaining high standards of scholastic attainment as a prerequisite to entrance into the technical force of the Coast Survey, and this at a time when the ideals of civil service were not yet firmly established. During this period he was also an active member of various important boards and commissions such as the United States Lighthouse Board, the United States Board of Geographic Names, the first Bearing Sea commission and the Alaska boundary commission.
After five years as head of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, he left in 1894 to accept the presidency of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In 1901 ill health compelled his resignation and he went to Italy to recuperate, remaining eleven years in Europe. Returning to the United States in 1912, he settled in
Ravenna, OH, where he died.
Thomas's principal scientific contributions were to the subjects of electricity, gravity, seismology, and atmospheric electricity, but his labors covered a much wider field, evidenced by numerous monographs, reports, and papers. His scientific attainments received wide recognition. Although not a college graduate, he was awarded honorary degrees by many American universities. He was
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1887, and to the presidency of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1889; and various other scientific societies honored him with membership. In 1899 he wrote "A Flag Episode," an account of the first American flag raising aboard the brig, Nancy. In 1901 he was awarded the Cullum Geographical Medal by the American Geographical Society; in 1911 the National Educational Society of Japan bestowed a gold medal on him and in 1918 the Franklin Institute awarded him a Franklin Medal at the same time that a similar medal was awarded Marconi. In the high school at Salem, OH, in which he taught early in his career, a bronze tablet has been erected to his memory, and at the Ohio State University the physics building has been named the Mendenhall Laboratory of Physics in his honor. The Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska was named after him.
| HOME | EMAIL | SURNAMES |
Return to The Pennocks of Primitive Hall website.
The information in this database may contain errors. If you find any questionable data, or if you have something to add my findings, please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the "E-MAIL" link above. Thank you!
Page built by Gedpage Version 2.21 ©2009 on 07 July 2020