Samuel L. Mitchill

Samuel Latham Mitchill ( born August 20, 1764 in Hempstead, New York, † September 7, 1831 in New York City ) was an American physicist, scientist and politician.

Life

In 1786 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He worked in 1791 and 1798 in the New York State Assembly. 1792 to 1801 he taught chemistry, botany and natural history at Columbia College.

In 1801 he was elected as a deputy of the Democratic-Republican Party in the House of Representatives of the United States. He remained there until his resignation on 22 November 1804. A day later, on 23 November 1804 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to take over the seat of the beaten John Armstrong Jr.. This he did until 3 March 1809. Thereafter, he was re-elected on 4 December 1810 to 3 March 1813 in the House of Representatives.

Mitchill was the author of the book The Fishes of New York, published in 1815. He is the first to describe numerous species, such as the glass eyes of the American perch or perch.

Samuel Latham Mitchill taught from 1808 to 1820 at Columbia University today to belong to New York College of Physicians and Surgeons chemistry and natural science until 1826, he then taught botany and medicine science. He founded in 1817 " The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York", 1831 New York Academy of Sciences. Mitchill was one of the founders of the short-lived Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey, where from 1826 to 1830 vice-president.

In the early years of the 19th century was searching for a new name for the "United States of America " because it was too long, inaccurate and unpoetic. In addition to serious proposals such as Columbia Mitchill Fredonia suggested the name, derived from the words freedom ( freedom ) with a Latin ending, before. This name was never taken seriously as a candidate to consider, numerous towns and villages, such as Fredonia, New York, but were named after it.