Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Nipher, Francis Eugene

NIPHER, Francis Eugene, physicist, b. in Port Byron, N. Y., 10 Dec., 1847. He was graduated in 1870 at the State university of Iowa, where he became assistant in physical science. In 1874 he was called to the chair of physics in Washington university, St. Louis. The second state weather service, that of Missouri, was organized by him in 1877, and for ten years was maintained independent of official support. From 1878 till 1883 he conducted a magnetic survey of Missouri, doing the work under private auspices, and publishing the annual reports in the “Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences.” Prof. Nipher is a member of scientific societies, and since 1884 has been president of the St. Louis academy of sciences. His publications, including twenty-five papers on physics, have been contributed to the “American Journal of Science” and to transactions of societies. He is also the author of “Theory of Magnetic Measurements, with an Appendix on the Method of Least Squares” (New York, 1886).