John Ripley Freeman

John Ripley Freeman
Born (1855-07-27)July 27, 1855
West Bridgton, Maine
Died October 6, 1932(1932-10-06) (aged 77)
Providence, Rhode Island
Residence United States
Citizenship American
Alma mater
Spouse(s)
  • Elizabeth Farwell née Clark
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Chairman of the NACA
In office
1918–1919
President Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by William F. Durand
Succeeded by Charles Doolittle Walcott

John Ripley Freeman (July 27, 1855 – October 6, 1932) was an American civil and hydraulic engineer. He is known for the design of several waterworks and was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Biography

Freeman was born in West Bridgton, Maine on his father's farm. He attended the country school in his hometown, and public schools in Portland, and Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 1872 he started studying civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained his BSc in 1878.[1] He received his Bachelor of Science at, Department of Civil Engineering in June 1876.

After graduation in 1878 Freeman started his career at the Essex water power company as assistant to the company's engineer, Hiram F. Mills. In those days he became acquainted with other leading engineers such as Charles Storer Storrow, James B. Francis, Joseph R. Davis and John C. Hoadley. In 1886, he moved to Boston to the Associated Mutual Fire Insurance Company, where he was appointed engineer and inspector.[1] In the next decennia Freeman was the design engineer for several water projects, participated in several water works commissions, and was consulting engineer in many parties.

Freeman van president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was also the founder and president of Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics during World War I, and served as chairman from 1918–1919.

Freeman received numerous honorary degrees. He received Doctor of Science degrees from Brown University in 1904; from Tufts College in 1905; from the Sachsischen Technischen Hochschule, Dresden, Germany, June 1925; from the University of Pennsylvania in 1927; and from Yale University in 1931. in 1922 he was awarded the ASME Medal.

Freeman was elected Honorary Member Phi Beta Kappa at Brown University in 1901; Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1918; Honorary Member of the Marsaryk Academy of Works, Czecho-Slovakia in 1926; Ehrenbürger (Honorary Member) der Badischen Technischen Hochschule, Karlsruhe, Germany in January 1929; Mitglied des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats des Forschungs-Institutes in München und Walchcnsee, Bavaria, Germany in January 1931; and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Work

Freeman is noted for his efforts to design and build the Charles River Dam, advising the government on dam and lock foundations for the Panama Canal, and influencing the design of MIT's new campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Freeman was the design engineer for several water projects, including the Lake Spaulding Dam, the Holter Dam, the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, the Charles River Dam, the Keokuk Dam, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and the Panama Canal.[2][1]

Publications, a selection

  • John Freeman, Regulation of elevation and discharge of the great lakes, 1926
  • John Freeman, Earthquake damage and earthquake insurance, 1932
  • John Freeman, Experiments relating to hydraulics of fire streams The nozzle as an accurate water meter.
  • John Freeman, Fire-stream tables.
  • John Freeman, Flow of water in pipes.
  • John Freeman, Hydraulic laboratory practice : comprising a translation, revised to 1929, of Die Wasserbaulaboratorien Europas, published in 1926 by Verein Deutscher Ingenieure; including also descriptions of other European and American laboratories and notes on the theory of experiments with models
  • John Freeman, Lock canal at Panama ...
  • John Freeman, On contemporary technical education; address of John R. Freeman on behalf of the engineering societies at the inauguration of President Charles S. Howe, Case School of Applied Science.
  • John Freeman, On the safeguarding of life in theaters; being a study from the standpoint of an engineer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Vannevar Bush, "John Ripley Freeman, 1855–1932," Biographical Memoirs, vol.8; New York: National Academy of Sciences, 1935, p. 170-187
  2. ↑ Mount, Sci-Tech Archives and Manuscript Collections, 1989, p. 49; Jackson, Building the Ultimate Dam: John S. Eastwood and the Control of Water in the West, 2005, p. 285, fn. 33.

Further reading

  • Jarzombek, Mark (2004), Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech, Boston: Northeastern University Press
  • "Freeman, John Ripley (1855-1932). Papers, 1827-1955". Archived from the original on 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  • "Theodore Roosevelt's Letter to J.P. Freeman". Retrieved 2007-04-11.
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