Jacob Bigelow

Dr. Jacob Bigelow (1787-1879) was a prominent medical doctor, botanist, and architect of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Bigelow was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts on February 7, 1787 (other sources claim 1786). Bigelow graduated from Harvard College in 1806 and then studied under Dr. John Gorham. He then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical school in 1810. He also studied under botantist Benjamin Barton.

Bigelow taught medicine and botany at Harvard and published numerous books, including one of America's first botanical books, "American Medical Botany". His interest in mechanics led to his appointment as Rumford Professor, a position endowed at Harvard for the purpose of teaching the application of science to the useful arts, which he held from 1816 to 1827. His interest in mechanics and non-biological sciences was also illustrated by the publication of his "Elements of Technology" in 1829.

Bigelow died on January 10, 1879 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

External links and references

[http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/archives/BIGELOW.html Harvard Archives Bigelow Collections (BIOGRAPHY)]
*Bailey, L.H., Jr. "Some North American Botanists: V. Jacob Bigelow." "Botanical Gazette" 8(5): 217-222.
*Gray, Asa. "Dr. Jacob Bigelow." The American Journal of Science and Arts Third Series. 17(100): 263-266.
*Elliott, Clark A. "Biographical Dictionary of American Science: The Seventeenth through the Nineteenth Centuries." 1979.
*Kelly, Howard A. "Jacob Bigelow." "Some American Medical Botanists." Troy, New York : The Southworth Company Publishers, 1914.Digital editions of American Medical Botany
* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/DLDECARTS.BIGELOW American Medical Botany at UW Libraries]
* [http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/3693 American Medical Botany Biodiversity Heritage Library]