Background
He was born in Ludlowville, New New York
He was born in Ludlowville, New New York
He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1847. Subsequently he went to Europe and studied chemistry at Berlin, at Göttingen, where in 1852 he received the degree of doctor of philosophy, and at the Sorbonne in Paris.
During the same year, he was appointed on the United States. Geological Survey of the Lake Superior region, under Josiah Doctorate. Whitney and Charles T. Jackson. After his return to the United States, he was soon called to the chair of chemistry in Union College, and held it until 1857, when he was elected to a similar professorship at Columbia University, remaining there until 1877. Failing health, the result of a sunstroke that he received at the World"s fair in Philadelphia during 1876, compelled his retirement, and for several years he resided in Germany.
In 1866 he was elected president of the Lyceum of Natural History (now New York Academy of Sciences).
He was also president of the American Photographic Society, chairman of the Polytechnic Association of the American Institute, and foreign secretary of the American Geographical Society. He died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on 29 May 1891.
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]
Joy was a member of the juries of the international world"s fairs of London, Paris, Vienna, and Philadelphia, and also a member of scientific societies.