Abstract
NOVEMBER 27 marks the centenary of the birth of Henry Augustus Rowland, one of the most distinguished men of science that the United States has produced. Born at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1848, Rowland was the son of a clergyman, and at the age of sixteen, after being allowed to abandon his classical studies, he devoted himself to science. He studied to be a civil engineer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy and graduated in 1870. During the next few years he successively served as a railway engineer, taught in the Wooster College and lectured as assistant professor at the Rensselaer Institute. On April 3, 1876, he became the first professor of physics at the newly created Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, having the previous year visited Europe and worked for a time under the great Helmholtz. Rowland retained the professorship until his death, adding lustre to the University by his own brilliant researches and by the band of devoted workers he gathered around him.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Centenary of H. A. Rowland. Nature 162, 841–842 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162841c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162841c0