History of Southwest Harbor, (Hancock County) Maine United States of America

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John Daniel Runkle, mathematician, was born at Root, Montgomery county, N.Y., Oct. 11, 1822; son of Daniel and Sarah (Gordon) Runkle. He attended the public schools and academies at Canajoharie, Ames and Cortland, N.Y., and was graduated at the Lawrence Scientific school, Harvard university, in 1851. He was employed on the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, 1849?84. He was married, April 19, 1862, to Catharine Robbins, daughter of William and Lucy (Taylor) Bird of Dorchester, Mass. Upon the opening of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1865, he was made professor of mathematics, and in 1868, when illness obliged President Rogers to resign, Professor Runkle was made acting president of the corporation, and in 1870 became president of the Institute. He improved the laboratory work in all branches, and in 1871 held the first summer school of mining. He established the Lowell school of practical design, laboratories of mining engineering, metallurgy, mechanical engineering and mechanic arts, and a preparatory school of mechanic arts, which latter was transferred to the city of Boston. He resigned the presidency of the Institute in 1878; travelled abroad, 1878?80, and was Walker professor of mathematics, 1880?1902, and professor emeritus until his death. He resided in Brookline, Mass., and in recognition of the part he took in introducing manual training in that town, one of the grammar schools was given his name. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received from Harvard the honorary degree of A.M. in 1851; from Hamilton that of Ph.D. in 1869, and from Wesleyan that of LL.D. in 1871. He founded and edited the Mathematical Monthly, 1858?61, and wrote: New Tables for Determining the Values of Coefficients in the Perturbative Function of Planetary Motion (1855): Manual Element in Education (1876); Report on Industrial Education (1883), and Analytic Geometry (1888). He died at Southwest Harbor, Maine, July 8, 1902.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Southwest Harbor, (Hancock County) Maine

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