Henry A. (Henry Augustus) Mott

Born in Clifton, Staten Island, on October 22, 1852, Henry Augustus Mott was an American chemist, author, and Columbia-trained scientist. A biographical dictionary entry describes him as the son of Henry Augustus Mott and the grandson of the noted surgeon Valentine Mott. He studied at Columbia College’s School of Mines, receiving degrees in 1873 and later a Ph.D. in 1875.

Mott built his career in technical chemistry and wrote practical works including The Chemist’s Manual and The Adulteration of Milk. He also wrote Was Man Created?, a book that took up big questions about evolution and human origins for general readers. Another of his notable books, The Yachts and Yachtsmen of America (1894), shows how comfortably he moved beyond strictly scientific subjects.

Contemporary accounts remembered him as a well-known chemist, and a Columbia obituary notice reports that he died at his home in New York on November 8, 1896, at the age of forty-four. Even in a relatively short life, he left behind work that mixed scientific training with an energetic interest in public debate and practical knowledge.