author
Robert Hare
1781–1858
An early American chemist and inventive experimenter, he helped push laboratory science forward in the United States. He is best remembered for developing the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe and for many years teaching chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1781, he grew into one of the best-known American chemists of the early nineteenth century. His work combined practical invention with hands-on experimentation, and his name became closely linked with the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, a powerful device used to produce extremely high heat.
He spent much of his career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught chemistry for decades and helped shape scientific education in the country. Alongside teaching, he designed apparatus and carried out experiments in areas such as combustion, electrochemistry, and chemical analysis.
Later in life, his interests widened beyond mainstream chemistry, and he also wrote about spiritualism, a subject that drew wide attention and controversy. He died in Philadelphia in 1858, leaving behind a reputation as both a serious scientific pioneer and a strikingly curious, unconventional thinker.