View source for Thomas Corwin Mendenhall

{{Short description|American autodidact physicist and meteorologist (1841–1924)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Thomas Corwin Mendenhall
| image             = T.C.Mendenhall-1918.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1841|10|04}}
| birth_place       = [[Hanoverton, Ohio]], US
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1924|03|28|1841|10|04}}
| death_place       = [[Ravenna, Ohio]], US
| resting_place     = [[Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)|Forest Hill Cemetery]]
| spouse            = {{marriage|Susan Allan Marple|1870}}
| children          = [[Charles Elwood Mendenhall]]
| relatives         = [[Thomas C. Mendenhall (historian)|Thomas C. Mendenhall]] {{small|(grandson)}}
| citizenship       =
| alma_mater        = [[Ohio State University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = {{hlist|[[gravity]]|[[physics]]|[[stylometry]]|[[author profiling]]}}
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| signature         = Signature of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841–1924).png
| footnotes         = 
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = {{hlist|[[gravity]]|[[physics]]|[[seismology]]|[[meteorology]]|[[stylometry]]|[[author profiling]]}}
| work_institutions = 
| prizes            = [[Cullum Geographical Medal]] {{small|(1901)}}<br>[[Franklin Medal]] {{small|(1918)}} <br> [[Order of the Sacred Treasure]] (Japan) {{small|(1911)}} 
}}

'''Thomas Corwin Mendenhall''' (October 4, 1841 – March 23, 1924) was an American [[autodidact]] [[physicist]] and [[meteorologist]]. He was the first professor hired at [[Ohio State University]]<!--Wikipedians do not use "The" as part of Ohio State's name; it is considered a marketing gimmick, and routinely deleted.--> in 1873 and the superintendent of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]] (one of the ancestor organizations of the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]) from 1889 to 1894. Alongside his work, he was also an advocate for the [[Metrication in the United States|adoption of the metric system by the United States]] and is the father of [[author profiling]].

==Biography==
[[File:PSM V37 D594 Thomas Corwin Mendenhall.jpg|left|thumb|Mendenhall in 1890]]
Mendenhall was born in [[Hanoverton, Ohio]], to Stephen Mendenhall, a farmer and carriage-maker, and Mary Thomas. In 1852 the family moved to [[Marlboro, Ohio|Marlboro]], a [[Quaker]] community outside of [[Akron, Ohio]]. His parents were strong [[abolitionist]]s and frequently opened their home to escaped slaves heading north along the [[Underground Railroad]]. Mendenhall became principal of the local primary school in 1858. He formalized his teaching qualifications at [[National Normal University]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohwarren/Places/nnu1893a.htm|title=National Normal University, 1893 Alumnal Roster, Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio|website=rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=September 24, 2016}}</ref> in 1861 with an ''[[Instructor Normalis]]'' degree.<ref name="ANB">Carey (1999)</ref>

While living in [[Columbus, Ohio]], he married Susan Allan Marple in 1870. The couple had one child, [[Charles Elwood Mendenhall]] (1872–1935), teacher and chairman of the physics department at [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] for 34 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mendenhall-charles.pdf|title=National Academy of Sciences – Biographical Memoir – Obituary}}</ref>

He taught at a number of schools in [[Ohio]] including [[Central High School (Columbus, Ohio)|Central High School]] in Columbus,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://library.osu.edu/blogs/archives/2014/10/31/dead-body-electricity-spooky-experiment-conducted-by-first-faculty/|title=Dead body + electricity = spooky experiment conducted by first faculty|date=October 31, 2014|language=en-US|access-date=September 24, 2016}}</ref> gaining an impressive reputation as a teacher and educator. In 1873, although he lacked conventional academic credentials, he was appointed professor of [[physics]] and mechanics at the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The college ultimately became [[Ohio State University]],<ref name="ANB" /> Mendenhall being the first member of the original faculty.<ref name="wosu1">[http://www.wosu.org/archive/horseshoe/men.htm] The Birth of Ohio Stadium</ref> He was later awarded the first ever honorary Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1878.<ref name="wosu1" />

[[File:ThomasCMendenhallwithStudentsJapan1880.jpg|left|thumb|Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, the first physics teacher in Tokyo, Japan with his interpreter Kikuchi (right) and grad students {{circa|1880}}]]
In 1878,<ref name="ANB" /> on the recommendation of [[Edward S. Morse]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Self Styled Genius: The Life of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall|last=Drew|first=Sybil|date=November 15, 2016|publisher=Jan & Brooklyn|isbn=978-0-692-79057-1|edition=1|language=en}}</ref> he was recruited to help the modernization of [[Meiji Era]] Japan as one of the ''[[o-yatoi gaikokujin]]'' (hired foreigners), serving as visiting professor of physics at [[Tokyo Imperial University]]. In connection with this appointment, he founded a [[meteorology|meteorological]] observatory to make systematic observations during his residence in Japan. From measurements using a [[Kater's pendulum]] of the force of [[gravity]] at sea level and at the summit of [[Mount Fuji]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://onehundredmountains.blogspot.com/2011/06/o-yatoi-who-weighed-earth.html|title=One Hundred Mountains: The o-yatoi who weighed the earth|last=Hyakumeizan|first=Project|date=June 26, 2011|website=One Hundred Mountains|access-date=September 24, 2016}}</ref> Mendenhall deduced a value for the mass of the Earth that agreed closely with estimates that [[Francis Baily]] had made in England by another method. He also made a series of elaborate measurements of the wavelengths of the solar spectrum by means of a large [[spectrometer]].<ref name=":1" /> He also became interested in earthquakes while in Japan, and was one of the founders of the [[Seismological Society of Japan]] (SSJ).<ref name=":1" /> During his time in Japan, he also gave public lectures on various scientific topics to general audiences in temples and in theaters.<ref name="ANB" />

Returning to Ohio in 1881, Mendenhall was instrumental in developing the Ohio State Meteorological Service. He devised a system of weather signals for display on railroad trains. This method became general throughout the United States and Canada.

[[File:Mendenhall gravimeter pendulums.jpg|thumb|Mendenhall Gravimeter Pendulums]]
He became professor at the [[U.S. Signal Corps]] in 1884, introducing of systematic observations of [[lightning]], and investigating methods for determining ground temperatures. He was the first to establish stations in the United States for the systematic observation of earthquake phenomena. Resigning in 1886, Mendenhall took up the presidency of the [[Rose Polytechnic Institute]] in [[Terre Haute, Indiana]] before becoming superintendent of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]] in 1889. During his time as superintendent, he issued the [[Mendenhall Order]] and oversaw the consequent transition of the United States's [[weights and measures]] from the customary system, based on that of [[Imperial unit|England]], to the [[metric system]].<ref name=":1" /> Mendenhall remained a strong proponent for the official adoption of the metric system all his life. Also, as superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, he was also responsible for defining the exact national boundary between [[Alaska]] and Canada. The [[Mendenhall Valley]] and [[Mendenhall Glacier|Glacier]] in [[Juneau, Alaska]] was named for him in 1892.<ref name=":0" /> [[File:Geodetic Survey House in Sitka, Alaska.jpg|thumb|This Geodetic Survey House in Sitka, Alaska was used by Dr. Mendenhall and Surveyors working to map Alaska.]]

Mendenhall invented the portable Mendenhall [[Gravimeter]] in 1890 while he was superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,<ref name=":1" /> and at that time it provided the most accurate relative measurements of the local [[gravitational field]] of the Earth. The gravimeters were used at over 340 survey stations across the US and around the world including Germany, the [[Netherlands]], [[Java]], [[Philippines]], [[Cuba]], [[Haiti]], [[Bahamas]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Panama]], Canada, and Mexico. The swing of the [[pendulum]] was more regular than the most accurate clocks of the era, and as the "world's best clock" it was used by [[Albert A. Michelson]] to measure the [[speed of light]], for which he won a Nobel Prize in 1907.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html|title=Albert A. Michelson – Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref> An early model of the original 1890s Mendenhall Gravimeter is on display at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1029662|title=Mendenhall Gravity Pendulums|website=National Museum of American History|access-date=September 24, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:PSM V85 D521 Group photograph of herman helmholtz and academic friends.png|left|thumb|[[Hermann von Helmholtz]] and his wife (seated), [[Hugo Kronecker]] (left), [[Henry Villard]](center) and Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (right)—taken at the studio of [[Mathew Brady]] in New York City, 1893]]
Mendenhall was appointed president of the [[Worcester Polytechnic Institute]] from 1894 until 1901, when he emigrated to Europe.<ref name="ANB" /> He returned to the United States in 1912. He was appointed to the board of trustees of the Ohio State University in 1919 and is remembered for his successful efforts to close the College of Homeopathic Medicine and his unsuccessful effort to limit the capacity of [[Ohio Stadium]] to 45,000 seats, contending that it would never be able to fill to its design capacity of 63,000 seats.<ref name="wosu1" /> He continued to serve as a trustee until his death at [[Ravenna, Ohio]] in 1924.<ref name="ANB" /> He was buried at [[Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)|Forest Hill Cemetery]] in Madison, Wisconsin.

His portrait is currently part of the Smithsonian Institution [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://npgportraits.si.edu/eMuseumNPG/code/emuseum.asp?rawsearch=ObjectID/,/is/,/35167/,/false/,/false&newprofile=CAP&newstyle=single|title=National Portrait Gallery – Mendenhall Portrait|date=August 21, 2015}}</ref> It was painted by his former pupil [[Annie Ware Sabine Siebert]], who was the first recipient of a Master of Arts degree from The Ohio State University in 1886, and one of the first women to earn an architecture degree from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) in 1888.[https://library.osu.edu/buckeye-stroll/locations/siebert-hall] A portrait by famous artist and Columbus, Ohio native [[George Bellows]] was commissioned by the Ohio State University in 1913.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hvallison.com/WorkDetail.aspx?w=238&b=http://hvallison.com/Era.aspx%3Fs%3D1913%26e%3D1913%26si%3D0|title=DR. THOMAS CORWIN MENDENHALL – George Bellows Catalogue Raissone – H.V. ALLISON}}</ref>

[[File:Graves of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841–1924), Charles Elwood Mendenhall (1872–1935), and Dorothy Reed Mendenhall (1874–1964) at Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin) 1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mendenhall's grave (third from left) at Forest Hill Cemetery]]

The largest collection of images, historical documents and handwritten material relating to Thomas Corwin Mendenhall is with Mendenhall family member documentary filmmaker Sybil Drew.<ref name=":1"/>

==Work on stylometry==
In 1887 Mendenhall published one of the earliest attempts at [[stylometry]] also known as author profiling, the quantitative analysis of writing style.<ref>Mendenhall (1887)</ref> Prompted by a suggestion made by the English mathematician [[Augustus De Morgan]] in 1851, Mendenhall attempted to characterize the style of different authors through the [[frequency distribution]] of words of various lengths. In this article Mendenhall mentioned the possible relevance of this technique to the [[Shakespeare authorship question]], and several years later the idea was picked up by a supporter of the [[Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship|theory]] that [[Sir Francis Bacon]] was the true author of the works usually attributed to Shakespeare. He paid for a team of two people to undertake the counting required, but the results did not appear to support the theory.<ref>Mendenhall (1901) p.104</ref> For comparison, in 1901 Mendenhall also had works by [[Christopher Marlowe]] analysed,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ornes |first1=Stephen |title=Science and Culture: Charting the history of Western art with math |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=June 23, 2015 |volume=112 |issue=25 |pages=7619–7620 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1504488112 |pmid=26106123 |pmc=4485094 |bibcode=2015PNAS..112.7619O |doi-access=free }}</ref> and proponents of the [[Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship]] welcomed his finding that "in the characteristic curve of his plays Christopher Marlowe agrees with Shakespeare about as well as Shakespeare agrees with himself."<ref>Mendenhall (1901) p.105</ref>

==Honors==
[[File:Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska LCCN2010630416.tif|thumb|Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska]]
*[[honorary degree|Honorary Ph.D.]] from The Ohio State University (1878)<ref name="wosu1"/>
*Honorary Ph.D. from [[University of Michigan]] (1887)
*Member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1887)<ref name="ANB" />
*[[President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]] (1889)<ref name="ANB"/>
*Elected member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1891)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Thomas Corwin Mendenhall |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/thomas-corwin-mendenhall |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref>
*The [[Mendenhall Valley]] and [[Mendenhall Glacier]] in [[Juneau, Alaska]] were named for him (1892)<ref name=":0">[http://www.fs.usda.gov/r10/tongass/offices Mendendall Glacier Visitor Center home page]</ref>
*Elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] (1895)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistm |title=American Antiquarian Society Members Directory |publisher=Americanantiquarian.org |access-date=December 22, 2017}}</ref>
*Elected member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1899)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Thomas+C.+Mendenhall&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
*[[Cullum Geographical Medal]] of the [[American Geographical Society]] (1901)
*[[Order of the Sacred Treasure]], Japan (1911)<ref name=":1" />
*Honorary Ph.D. from [[Case Western Reserve University]] (1912)<ref name=":1" />
*[[Franklin Medal]] (1918)
*Mendenhall Laboratory on the campus of the Ohio State University is named for him<ref>Alexander (1926)</ref>

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book | author=Mendenhall, T. C. | year=1887 | title=A Century of Electricity | location=New York | publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Co. }}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Characteristic Curves of Composition | last = Mendenhall | first = T. C. | journal = Science | volume = IX | issue = 214 | year = 1887 | pages = 237–248 | doi = 10.1126/science.ns-9.214s.237 | pmid = 17736020 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1448355 }}
*{{Cite journal | title = A Mechanical Solution of a Literary Problem | last = Mendenhall | first = T. C. | journal = The Popular Science Monthly |volume = LX | issue = 7 | year = 1901 | pages = 97–105}}
*Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin and Drew, Sybil (2017) "An American Scientist In Japan 1878-1881 And Japan Revisited After Thirty Years"  {{ISBN|978-1544897066}}
*Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin and Drew, Sybil (2017) "The Alaska Boundary Line And Twenty Unsettled Miles: The History Of St. Croix River"  {{ISBN|978-1544637891}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
;Obituary
*''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'', July 11, 1924

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last1=Alexander |first1=W. H. |url=https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/2311/1/V26N04_183.pdf |title=Report of the thirtysixth annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science | journal=Ohio Journal of Science |volume=26 |pages=185–186 |year=1926 |issue=4 }}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Crew | first1 = H. | year = 1934 | title = Thomas Corwin Mendenhall | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mendenhall-t-c.pdf | journal = Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 16 | pages = 331–351 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Joncich |first1=Geraldine |title=Scientists and the Schools of the Nineteenth Century: The Case of American Physicists |journal=American Quarterly |date=1996 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=667–685 |doi=10.2307/2711389 |jstor=2711389 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=C. B. |title=Mendenhall's studies of word-length distribution in the works of Shakespeare and Bacon |journal=Biometrika |date=1975 |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=207–212 |doi=10.1093/biomet/62.1.207 }}
*Rubinger, Richard (1989) ''American Scientist in Early Meiji Japan: The Autobiographical Notes of Thomas C. Mendenhall'', {{ISBN|0-8248-1177-1}}
*Carey, C. W. (1999) "Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin", ''[[American National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, '''15''': 297-298, {{ISBN|0-19-520635-5}}
*[Anon.] (2001) "Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin", ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', Deluxe CDROM edition
*Hebra, A. & Hebra, A. J. (2003) ''Measure for Measure: The Story of Imperial, Metric, and Other Units'' {{ISBN|0-8018-7072-0}}
*Drew, Sybil (2016) ''Self Styled Genius: The Life of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall''  {{ISBN|978-0692790571}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas Corwin Mendenhall}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11147}}
* Sybil Drew https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3091159/

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Frank Manly Thorn]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]] | years=1889–1894}}
{{s-aft | after=[[William Ward Duffield]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Worcester Polytechnic Institute presidents}}
{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}
{{Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin}}
[[Category:American meteorologists]]
[[Category:American seismologists]]
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel]]
[[Category:Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan]]
[[Category:Foreign educators in Japan]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Japan]]
[[Category:Ohio State University trustees]]
[[Category:Presidents of Worcester Polytechnic Institute]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal]]
[[Category:People from Hanoverton, Ohio]]
[[Category:19th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:People from Stark County, Ohio]]
[[Category:Scientists from Ohio]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]