Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Bowen, George Thomas

BOWEN, George Thomas, chemist, b. in Providence, R. I., 19 March, 1803; d. in Nashville, Tenn., 25 Oct., 1828. He was graduated at Yale in 1822, studied medicine in Philadelphia, and in 1825 was elected professor of chemistry in the University of Nashville, where he continued until his death. While an undergraduate in college, he showed such interest in chemistry that he was permitted to devote all the time he could spare from his other studies to laboratory work under Prof. Silliman. The results of his investigations were published in 1822 under the titles “On the Electromagnetic Effects of Hare's Calorimeter” and “On a Mode of Preserving in a Permanent Form the Coloring-Matter of Purple Cabbage as a Test for Acids and Alkalies.” Analyses and descriptions of several minerals prepared by him date from this time. In Philadelphia he was a devoted follower of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and contributed to its memoirs and discussions.