James Blythe Rogers was an American chemist and professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania born on February 11, 1802
Background
James Blythe Rogers was born in Philadelphia, the son of Patrick Kerr and Hannah (Blythe) Rogers. The father was himself a physician, chemist, and teacher of note. Born in Ireland in 1776, he was employed in a counting-house in Dublin when the Irish rebellion of 1798 broke out, and, having written newspaper articles inimical to the government, he found it advisable to emigrate to the United States. He settled in Philadelphia; married in 1801 Hannah, daughter of James Blythe, a native of Glasgow and a Londonderry publisher; received the degree of M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1802; practised in Philadelphia and Baltimore; and in 1819 succeeded Dr. Robert Hare as professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the College of William and Mary, which position he held until his death in 1828. James was the eldest of four brothers, the others being William Barton, Henry Darwin, and Robert Empie all of whom became distinguished scientists.
Education
James received his early education from his father and in the Baltimore schools, studied at the College of William and Mary (1820 - 21), and in 1822 received the degree of M. D. from the University of Maryland.
Career
After several years' experience, he found the practice of medicine distasteful. From boyhood he had been keenly interested in chemistry and had become proficient in delicate and complicated analysis. Accordingly, when the Baltimore firm of Tyson & Ellicott offered him the superintendency of its chemical works in 1827, he accepted the position. While engaged in his duties there he was appointed professor of chemistry in Washington Medical College, Baltimore. About 1829 he and his brother Henry became lecturers at the Maryland Institute, where until recently William Rogers had also served. During the latter part of his stay in Baltimore, he made investigations, with George W. Andrews and William R. Fisher, which resulted in an interesting contribution to forensic chemistry--"Minutes of an Analysis of Soup Containing Arsenic, " published in the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (July 1834). He also carried on experiments with James Green, an instrument maker, which likewise produced valuable results, recorded in "Experiments with the Elementary Voltaic Battery" (American Journal of Science and Arts, April 1835). In 1835 he was called to the professorship of chemistry in the medical department of Cincinnati College.
Rogers remained in Cincinnati until 1839, declining in the meantime the position of melter and refiner in the branch mint at New Orleans. In 1837 he became associated with his brother William in the work of the Virginia Survey. In 1840 he took up his residence in Philadelphia and assisted his brother Henry, who was directing the Pennsylvania geological survey. He succeeded John K. Mitchell in 1841 as professor of chemistry in the Medical Institute of Philadelphia, and in 1844 was elected to a similar position in the Franklin Institute. He was made a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1846, and the following year succeeded Robert Hare, whom his father had succeeded at William and Mary twenty-eight years before, as professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. With Robert Empie Rogers he published in 1846 A Text Book on Chemistry, and also an important article, "On the Alleged Insolubility of Copper in Hydrochloric Acid . " (American Journal of Science and Arts, November 1848). Much of his work was so bound up with that of his brothers that it is impossible to designate and evaluate it. As a clear and interesting lecturer on scientific subjects he had few superiors in his day.
Always of delicate constitution, he died of albuminuria in his fifty-first year. His brother Robert succeeded him as professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Membership
Member of the American Philosophical Society
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
James and his brother's tastes were similar, they worked much together, and formed, it has been said, a "family group scarcely to be excelled for native powers and acquirements, in the history of science, in this or any age or country" (F. A. Walker, in National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, vol. III, 1895, p. 3).
Connections
He had married in 1830 Rachel Smith of Harford County, Maryland.
Always of delicate constitution, he died of albuminuria in his fifty-first year, survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter. His brother Robert succeeded him as professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.