Benjamin Silliman

Lore & Background

He was born several months after British forces took his father prisoner and his mother fled their home in Fairfield, Connecticut, to escape 2,000 British troops who burned Fairfield center. He was educated at Yale, receiving a B.A. Returning to New Haven, Silliman studied its geology. The mineral sillimanite was named after him in 1850. Upon the founding of the medical school, he taught there as one of the founding faculty members. Silliman was an early supporter of coeducation in the Ivy League, allowing young women into his lecture classes, though Yale would not admit women as students for over 100 years. He was a Christian and spoke in favor of old Earth creationism, arguing that the chronology of the Scriptures applied only to the history of the human race, while the creation preceded man by many ages.

Reader's Guide

Benjamin Silliman's significance lies in his role as a foundational figure in American science education and research. As the first science professor at Yale, he established the teaching of chemistry and natural history at a time when such subjects were rare in American colleges. Silliman also contributed to mineralogy, identifying tungsten, tellurium, topaz, and fluorite in Connecticut rocks, and to paleontology through the discovery of early fossil fishes. His advocacy for coeducation, though limited, influenced later educational reforms.

Did You Know?

• Silliman was born several months after British forces took his father prisoner and 2,000 British troops burned Fairfield center.
• The mineral sillimanite was named after him in 1850.