Eli Whitney Blake Jr.

Blake was born on April 20, 1836, in New Haven, Connecticut. He was one of twelve children born to Eli Whitney Blake and Eliza Maria (née O'Brien) Blake.Alida Blake Hazard: The Blakes of 77 Elm Street: A Family Sketch. Quinnipiac Press, New Haven 1925. pp. 33–34. Through his mother, he was a descendant of the Rev. James Pierpont, one of the co-founders of Yale.{{cite book |last1=Moffat |first1=R. Burnham |title=Pierrepont Genealogies from Norman Times to 1913 |date=1913 |publisher=L. Middleditch Company |pages=87–88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dInRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA87 |access-date=July 14, 2019 |language=en}}

Blake graduated from Yale in 1857, after which he spent a year at Sheffield Scientific School. He was a member of Skull and Bones, class of 1857. Following his time at Sheffield, he traveled to Europe, where he studied chemistry and physics in the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg, and Berlin.{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Martha |date=1993 |chapter=Blake, Eli Whitney |chapter-url=https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=B0250 |title=Encyclopedia Brunoniana |location=Providence, RI |publisher=Brown University Library }}

On his return to America, he was made professor of chemistry and physics at the University of Vermont (1867). After less than a year, he went to Cornell University, where he was professor of physics and mechanic arts (1868–1870). During this time he also acted temporarily as professor of physics at Columbia College from 1868 to 1869. From 1870 to 1895, he filled the chair of physics at Brown University.{{cite book|title=In memoriam – Eli Whitney Blake, LL.D. born April 20, 1836, died October 1, 1895.|date=1895|publisher=Doctor's Club|location=Providence|page=3|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.18538 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/58155#page/5/mode/1up|access-date=January 20, 2016}}

Although not a well-known figure in the scientific community, Blake was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and other similar associations. He also contributed to various scientific periodicals, such as the American Journal of Science and Arts.{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Blake, Eli Whitney|year=1900}}

• {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.s2-49.147.289|title=On a method of producing, by the electric spark, figures similar to those of Lichtenberg |year=1870 |last1=Blake |first1=E. W. |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=49 |issue=147 |pages=289–294 |bibcode=1870AmJS...49..289B |s2cid=131613811 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2214913 }}
• {{cite journal |doi=10.2475/ajs.s3-16.91.54 |title=A method of recording articulate vibrations by means of photography |year=1878 |last1=Blake |first1=E. W. |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=16 |issue=91 |pages=54–59 |bibcode=1878AmJS...16...54B |s2cid=6596022 }}

On March 8, 1860, Blake was married to Helen Mary Rood (1832–1869), the daughter of Rev. Anson Rood and Alida Gouverneur (née Ogden) Rood (daughter of Rev. Uzal Ogden).{{cite book |title=Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Church of Christ in New Haven, Connecticut (Center Church): A.D. 1639–1914 |date=1914 |page=247 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAoWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA247 |access-date=July 14, 2019 |language=en}} Among her family was uncle Nicholas Gouverneur Ogden, a partner of John Jacob Astor.{{cite book |last1=Van Alstyne |first1=Lawrence |last2=Ogden |first2=Charles Burr |title=The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640–1906 |date=1907 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott company |page=[https://archive.org/details/ogdenfamilyiname01whee/page/94 94] |url=https://archive.org/details/ogdenfamilyiname01whee |access-date=July 14, 2019 |language=en}} Together, Eli and Helen were the parents of:

• Alida Gouverneur Blake (1861–1938), who married Barclay Hazard, the son of Thomas Robinson Hazard and nephew of Rowland G. Hazard.{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Caroline|title=The Hazard family of Rhode Island 1635–1894 : Being a genealogy and history of the descendants of Thomas Hazard, with sketches of the worthies of this family, and anecdotes illustrative of their traits and also of the times in which they lived|year=1896|publisher=Merrymount Press|location=Boston|pages=121, 200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ips-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200|author2=Daniel Berkely Updike }}
• Eli Whitney Blake III (1867–1902), who died aged 35.

Blake died on October 1, 1895, in Hampton, Connecticut.{{cite news |title=Professor Eli Whitney Blake |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33863228/professor_eli_whitney_blake/ |access-date=July 14, 2019 |work=Hartford Courant |date=October 2, 1895 |page=8 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=OBITUARY RECORD. Eli Whitney Blake |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/10/02/106081139.pdf |access-date=July 14, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=October 2, 1895 |language=en}}

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Category:Cornell University faculty

Category:1836 births

Category:1895 deaths

Category:Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni

Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni

Category:University of Marburg alumni

Category:Heidelberg University alumni

Category:Brown University faculty

Category:Columbia University faculty

Category:American expatriates in Germany

Category:Members of Skull and Bones