author
Henry A. (Henry Augustus) Mott
1852–1896
A 19th-century chemist and science writer, this author brought technical subjects to a wider audience in books that ranged from practical chemistry to big questions about human origins. His work reflects a lively moment when science, industry, and public debate were closely intertwined.
1 Audiobook
Was Man Created?
by Henry A. (Henry Augustus) Mott
About the author
Born on October 22, 1852, at Clifton on Staten Island, Henry Augustus Mott was an American chemist, mining engineer, and author. Contemporary and reference sources describe him as the grandson of the noted surgeon Dr. Valentine Mott, and report that he studied at Columbia's School of Mines, receiving a mining engineering degree in 1873.
Mott wrote across both professional and popular scientific subjects. His The Chemist's Manual offered a substantial practical guide to analytical chemistry, mineralogy, assaying, and toxicology, while Was Man Created? turned to the era's heated debates over evolution, creation, and the relationship between science and religion. The title pages and bibliographic records associated with his books also present him as an analytical chemist and a member of several scientific societies.
He died in New York on November 8, 1896, at just forty-four years old. Although not widely remembered today, his books capture the curiosity and confidence of late 19th-century science writing, moving easily between laboratory practice and larger philosophical questions.