Morris B. Crawford

Morris Barker Crawford (September 26, 1852 – 1940) was an American academic, and the first professor of physics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Early life and education

He was born in 1852 in Sing Sing, now Ossining, New York to the Rev. Morris DeCamp Crawford and Charlotte (Holmes) Crawford. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1874, and he was a member of the Eclectic Society and of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master of Arts degree from Wesleyan in 1877.

Career

He was a tutor in Mathematics at Wesleyan from 1874-1877. He also served as registrar. From 1877-1880, he studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Leipsic and the University of Berlin. He was appointed an instructor of Physics in 1880, an associate professor in 1881, and a full professor in 1884. He was the first physics professor at Wesleyan, the Foss Professor of Physics. He retired in 1921, and was elected Professor Emeritus.[1] He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Physical Society.[2]

Family life

Crawford married Caroline Laura Rice (b. 1856) on December 25, 1883. She was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. William Rice, a noted methodist minister and librarian who had also attended Wesleyan University. She graduated from Wesleyan in 1879, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a Masters degree in 1882. Morris B. Crawford was a proponent of coeducation at Wesleyan. They had three children; Holmes (1884-1886), Frederick North Crawford (b. 1886), who also graduated from Wesleyan, and became a chemist, and a daughter, Margaret Crawford (b. 1889) who also graduated from Wesleyan.

References

  1. "Physics". Science at Wesleyan: 1831-1942.
  2. Who's Who in America, Volume 7. p. 481.
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