John S. Hougham

John Scherer Hougham (28 May 1821 – 31 Mar 1894), was Purdue University’s first appointed professor, and acting President between the administrations of Abraham C. Shortridge and Emerson E. White.

Hougham first graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana (1846), then rose to Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana (1848 – 1867). During this time he was also a well regarded maker of scientific instruments (see images, right) for educational and professional use in medicine, chemistry, astronomy, and other related fields (e.g., Solar Compass).

After those appointments, he was Chairman of Philosophy and Agriculture at Kansas State University (1868 – 1872). He then took an appointment as Professor of Physics and Industrial Mechanics, and Chairman of Agricultural Chemistry at Purdue University (1872 – 1876), serving in those early years of Purdue’s history as an academic "handyman" — and for a time acting President for parts of 1874 and 1876 — to John Purdue and the founding Trustees, visiting other universities around the country in search of new ideas and faculty to bring back to his native Indiana. Around 1876, he returned to Kansas State where he spent the remaining years of his academic career.

References

* [http://www.purdue.edu/datadigest2002_03/pages/fastfacts/ff_presidents.htm Presidents of Purdue University] . Retrieved September 26, 2007.

* [http://www.wabash.edu/alumni/docs/Class%20of%201995%20Late%20Dec%202005%20ltr.pdf Wabash College Archives, John S. Hougham Manuscript Collection] . Retrieved September 27, 2007.

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=788BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=john+s+hougham&source=web&ots=EQjKOQuvj9&sig=EGbnYXX6kJjtGdJZztz0ws00dRA Indiana School Journal, April 1860 V(4):147] . Retrieved September 26, 2007.

* [http://www.physics.purdue.edu/about_us/history/early_years.shtml A History of Physics at Purdue] . Retrieved September 26, 2007.

* [http://www.surveyhistory.org/john_s__hougham1.htm Virtual Museum of Surveying] . Retrieved September 26, 2007

Additional Sources

* [http://www.rittenhousejournal.org/txt_auth.pdf Rittenhouse Journal index] . Elgin, Richard L. "John S. Hougham and the Early History of the Solar Compass." "Rittenhouse: The Journal of the American Scientific Instrument Enterprise" 7(28):117-121. Retrieved September 28, 2007