author
Thomas C. (Thomas Corwin) Mendenhall
1841–1924
A self-taught American physicist and meteorologist, he helped shape scientific standards in the United States at a time when modern measurement was coming into focus. His career ranged from university teaching to national scientific service, including work that influenced American weights and measures.
1 Audiobook
![Twenty Unsettled Miles in the Northeast Boundary [From the Report of the Council of the American Antiquarian Society, presented at the Annual Meeting held in Worcester, October 21, 1896]](https://listenly.io/api/img/6638c7fa972dc5c80ef77d64/cover.jpg)
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1841, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall built a remarkable scientific career largely through his own efforts. He became the first professor hired at Ohio State University in 1873 and went on to earn a reputation for work in physics, meteorology, and precise measurement.
Mendenhall also spent part of his career in Japan, where he taught science during the early Meiji period, before returning to the United States. Later he served as superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, where he was closely connected with the improvement of national standards for length and mass and with broader scientific surveying work.
He later became president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and remained an important figure in American science and education. Remembered for the "Mendenhall Order" and for his advocacy of careful, modern measurement, he died in 1924.