Benjamin+Silliman+and+Benjamin+Silliman+Jr

BENJAMIN SILLIMAN AND SON

Silliman was born in right around the time of American Independence/the heyday of the American Revolutionary war in Connecticut. Soon after his birth, he was taken with his mother to flee their hometown, where British troops had captured his father.

He was educated at Yale in Law, then continued his education to pursue the sciences. He studied mineralogy and geology and eventually took an interest in chemistry, which he studied in the UK, which allowed him to be admitted to the faculty of his Ivy League alma mater.

In New Haven, CT, he performed a geological analysis on a meteorite, leading to the first published account on an extra-terrestrial body found on American soil. His interest in geology led him to study the chemical content of minerals; indeed, his diligence led to the naming of one such mineral after him, sillimanite.

Other accomplishments include the creation of the Yale Medical School, the fractionation of petroleum by distillation ( he was the first person to use this process, without which we would not be carpooling to work, but buggying), and of course, the creation of The American Journal of Science and Arts. This journal he both edited and financed from 1818 until his death, in 1864, at the tender old age of 85.

Both he and his journal gained enormous popularity from the rise in public lectures and demonstrations held for the upwardly mobile in the mid 19th century. These lectures, held at places like the Lowell Institute, were indispensible to the popularization of science. Indeed, held in a public forum, demonstrations bordered on the mystical. Scientists would induce chemical reactions to astound, amaze and excite audiences. It was almost a precursor to moving pictures.

Often, upwardly mobile college men and their female counterparts would go on dates to these lectures. It was here, much like at today’s movies, where reality was questioned. Silliman was a brilliant speaker. Not only did he utilize the lectures as a platform in which to promote his journal, but he networked with other speakers at the events to feature the most up to date research in his publications. Further, he was a pupil of Francis Accum, a chemist who was known for his applications of science to the real world.

 Accum was a German immigrant who moved to England. There, he studied chemistry with a perfectionist’s eye, and was meticulous about the applications of scientific knowledge. The 19th century was an age of rampant food adulteration (much like how Upton Sinclair describes in The Jungle), and often, swindlers were not caught because the technology was not invented yet to prosecute them. However, Accum utilized the principles of chemistry to expose food adulterers, coining the famous phrase, “There is death in the pot,” to describe the criminal behaviors of con artists. Indeed, he made it his life's work to rally against swindling in the London food system, although ironically, he was eventually ruined by shoddy behavior. It was discovered that he was stealing valuable pages from the Oxford archives, by razoring leaves and stuffing them in his jacket pockets.

However, Accum was so charismatic and eccentric in his lectures to need ever larger venues to house his growing audiences. Silliman, as a pupil of this speaker, similarly mesmerized audiences. Soon, in America, science transcended the realm of superstition to one of fascination and credibility. The decades between 1820 and 1840 saw a huge transformation in scientific acceptance. From being meagerly supported in the early 19th century, it gained momentum quickly. By performing demonstrations publicly, the scientific community was able to popularize itself into the mainstream. This period in history is often referred to as the Jacksonian era in America. This period led to the “cult of self-improvement,” an age that supported the pursuit of knowledge, and the era of the common man. Indeed, science became a way to demonstrate class, and any object that translated scientific thought was seen as a status symbol. Silliman capitalized on this by creating his scientific journal.

Silliman Jr. followed in his father's footsteps. He studied at Yale University and focused primarily on geology. He expanded upon his father's research in oil and became an authority in the field of petroleum prospecting. He was known as a man "ever inclined to look upon the bright side of life." In 1841, he becoame a co-editor of //The American Journal of Science and Arts//,working alongside his father. The two achieved great success in uniting the scientific community. From there he falls into controversy. His work helped usher the United States into the oil era, and soon Silliman was consulted on all major prospects in the States. One such offer came to him from California, for a Geological Survey to estimate the amount of oil in a given area. Silliman was put on the job following one Josiah Whitney, who had not published anything on the subject in three years. The backers, restless turned to Silliman to report on the state of oil. Silliman immediately traveled to California and published his results. He found that the state was a goldmine. Whitney disagreed. The two accused each other of fabricating results and took each other to court. The case, regardless of the court finding a lack of evidence to convict, ruined Silliman's reputation. he was forever after labeled a swindler trying to make a profit off of fabricating oil data. ironic, after his father learned from the greatest hoax-buster of the 19th century, Freidrich Accum.