Background
Renwick, James was born on May 30, 1792 in Liverpool, England. Son of William and Jane (Jeffery) Renwick.
Renwick, James was born on May 30, 1792 in Liverpool, England. Son of William and Jane (Jeffery) Renwick.
Graduate Columbia, 1807, A.M., 1810, honorary Doctor of Laws, 1829.
Natural philosophy and experimental chemistry, 1820-1853, 1st emeritus professor, 1853-1863. Topographical engineer with rank of major United States Army, 1814. Commissioned colonel of engrs.
New York Militia, 1817. Authority in every branch of engineering of his day. His suggestions for uniting Hudson and Delaware rivers resulted in Morris Canal, a system of inclined planes or railways for transporting canal boat in cradle up or down the incline (awarded medal from Franklin Institute for cradle innovation, 1826).
Commissioned to test “the usefulness of Inventions to improve and render safe the boilers of steam-engines against explosions,” 1838. A commissioner to survey Northeastern boundary of disputed territory between United States and New Brunswick, 1840. Author: Outlines of Natural Philosophy (1st extensive treatise on subject from American writer), 2 vols., 1822-1823.
Treatise on the Steam Engine, 1830. Applications of the Science of Mechanics to Practical Purposes, 1840. Editor: (American editions with notes) Rudiments of Chemistry (Parke), 1824, Chemical Philosophy (Daniell), 2 vols., 1840.
Translator: (from French) Treatise on Artillery (Tallemand), 2 vold., 1820. Contributed biographies including David Rittenhouse (1839), Robert Fulton (1845), Count Rumford (1848) to Sparke’s Library of American Biography.
Married Margaret Anne Brevoort, 1816.