View source for Uriah A. Boyden

{{Short description|American civil and mechanical engineer and inventor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Uriah A. Boyden
| image = Image:Uriah Atherton Boyden.png
| caption = Uriah Boyden, {{circa|1845}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1804|2|17}}
| birth_place = [[Foxborough, Massachusetts]], United States
| birth_name = Uriah Atherton Boyden
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1879|10|17|1804|2|17}}
| death_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], United States
| education = 
| occupation = [[Engineer]], [[inventor]]
| relatives = [[Seth Boyden]] (elder brother)
}}
[[File:Boyden Turbine.jpg|thumb|Boyden turbine]]
'''Uriah Atherton Boyden''' (February 17, 1804 &ndash; October 17, 1879) was an American civil and mechanical engineer and inventor from [[Foxborough, Massachusetts]] best known for the development of a [[water turbine]], that later became known as the Boyden Turbine around 1844, while working for the Appleton Company in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]. Boyden improved upon a turbine developed by French engineer [[Benoît Fourneyron|Fourneyron]] by adding a conical approach passage for the incoming water—submerged diffusers, guide vanes and a diverting exit passage.<ref>[http://www.asme.org/kb/news---articles/articles/turbines/uriah-boyden ASME biography Uriah A. Boyden]</ref>

Uriah was also the younger brother of [[Seth Boyden]], also a notable inventor who perfected a process for making patent leather, among other developments.

==Early life==
Uriah Atherton Boyden was born in [[Foxborough, Massachusetts]] on February 17, 1804, the son of Seth Boyden and Susannah Atherton. His father was farmer and blacksmith who had invented a machine to split leather.<ref>[http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0982.html Uriah A. Boyden Papers NMAH.AC.0982]</ref>

==Career==
In 1813, Uriah moved to [[Newark, New Jersey]] to work in his elder brother Seth's leather shop.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mCVAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA370 Lambs biographical dictionary of the United States Volume 1]</ref> Around 1828, Uriah returned to Massachusetts where he worked on the early surveys for the [[Boston and Providence Railroad]]. He also worked under [[Loammi Baldwin]] on the dry dock at the [[Boston Navy Yard]], as other mills in Lowell and the [[Boston and Lowell Railroad]].

While at Lowell, Boyden worked with British-born engineer [[James B. Francis]], who in 1848 developed the [[Francis turbine]], which superseded Boyden's earlier invention. However, Boyden-type turbines continued to be manufactured, including those installed at [[Harmony Mills]] in [[Cohoes, New York]] in the early 1870s, and those used at the first Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5507.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102220923/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5507.pdf |archive-date=2013-01-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1850, Boyden settled in [[Boston]], and devoted himself to the study of chemistry and physics. He never married. He died in Boston on October 17, 1879.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vJccAQAAMAAJ&dq=Uriah%20Boyden&pg=PA3 Universities and their sons: history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and portraits of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees, Volume 2]</ref>

==Legacy==
Upon his death in 1879, Boyden's will left about a quarter of a million dollars to a suitable astronomical institution that would build an [[observatory]] on a mountain for the better atmospheric seeing conditions than those available at lower altitudes.

His heirs challenged the will, but it was found valid.  In 1887, [[Edward Charles Pickering]] convinced the trustees of Boyden's will to award the Boyden Fund to [[Harvard College Observatory]], of which he was director. Although he initially planned to establish an observatory at [[Mount Wilson (California)|Mount Wilson]], those plans were abandoned (although the [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] was later built by a different group).  Instead, needing an observation station for southern hemisphere skies, Harvard College Observatory established the "Boyden Station" at [[Arequipa]], Peru in 1889.

In 1927, Boyden Station was moved to South Africa due to better weather conditions and became known as the [[Boyden Observatory]].

Uriah also contributed to the Boyden Public Library in his hometown of [[Foxborough, Massachusetts]]. The [[National Museum of American History]] in Washington, DC is home to the Uriah A. Boyden Papers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAH.AC.0982|title=Smithsonian Collection ID:NMAH.AC.0982: Boyden, Uriah A. (Uriah Atherton), 1804-1879}}</ref>

==Ancestry==
His maternal ancestors had resided in Lancaster, Massachusetts, having been pioneer settlers to the area. He is a direct descendant of [[James Atherton (early settler to Massachusetts)|James Atherton]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://atherton.one-name.net/tng/getperson.php?personID=I27243&tree=1|title=James Atherton entry on the Atherton ONS}}</ref> who arrived in [[Dorchester, Massachusetts]] in the 1630s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044029877669&view=1up&seq=32&q1=Atherton|title=James Atherton of Dorchester settled in Lancaster Massachusetts in 1654 |date=1829 |publisher=Carter, Andrews & co. }}</ref> The Atherton family ancestry originated from [[Lancashire]], England.

==See also==
*[[Harmony Mills]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130102220923/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5507.pdf ASME Landmark Report, Boyden Hydraulic Turbines, 1976]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~mafhs/foxuriahboyden.htm Uriah Boyden biography]
{{commons category}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyden, Uriah}}
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:People associated with astronomy]]
[[Category:People from Foxborough, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Harvard College Observatory people]]