- William Ruggles
William Ruggles (born on
September 5 ,1797 in Rochester,Massachusetts , died onSeptember 10 ,1877 onSchooley's Mountain ,New Jersey ) was an American scholar.Biography
He was the son of
Elisha Ruggles andMary Clap who also parented six other children by the names of Nathaniel, Micah, Henry, Charles, James, and Lucy. William was the second youngest child in his family.He became a tutor of
mathematics atColumbian College in 1822, and was a professor of mathematics andnatural philosophy from 1824 to 1865. In 1865, he was madeProfessor Emeritus in those fields. He became the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy in 1827. Ruggles remained at George Washington University until he died and was an extremely respected professor, serving Columbian College for a record fifty-five year period. In 1859, he created theRuggles Prize , awarded annually to a candidate for a bachelor's degree for excellence in mathematics.Ruggles was the owner of various historical and archival books which are now located in the
Gelman Library Archives at George Washington University. The subjects includetheology ,philosophy ,psychology ,economics ,mathematics (algebra andgeometry ), andchemistry , all of which Ruggles either taught or was passionate about.His passions also lay in the idea of giving back to the community. William Ruggles was noted for his generous contributions to
charities andmissionary bequest s. His accomplishments and contributions were honored and recognized when he received an honoraryLL.D fromBrown University in 1852. Ruggles also graduated from Brown with a law degree in 1820.Ruggles was described by President Welling, the second president of the George Washington University:The Board of Trustees, in adopting resolutions in appreciation of his services, declared Ruggles in similar words to Welling, saying, “We hereby testify and record our exulted sense of the virtues which adorned his private character, the unselfish zeal he brought to the performance of all his duties and the inestimable value of the manifold and multiform services which he rendered to the College during the long period of his connection with its history.”
References
*cite web|url=http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php/Ruggles,_William|title=Ruggles, William|last=Slovick|first=Lyle|date=2006-12-11|work=The GW and Foggy Bottom Historical Encyclopedia|accessdate=2008-05-13
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