Robert Hare
Who was Robert Hare?
American chemist (1781-1858)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Robert Hare (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Robert Hare was born on January 17, 1781, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he spent most of his life before passing away there on May 15, 1858. He grew up during a time when scientific curiosity was thriving in the young United States, and he pursued a long career as a chemist, inventor, and educator. Hare is recognized as one of the most productive scientific figures in early 19th-century America, creating new tools and techniques that pushed the field of chemistry forward in both America and Europe.
Hare's most famous invention was the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, developed around 1801 when he was just twenty. This device mixed oxygen and hydrogen gases to generate a flame far hotter than any that existed then. It enabled the melting and analysis of substances that couldn't previously be heated in labs, like platinum and certain tough minerals. His invention gained him international recognition and became a key tool in chemistry and metallurgy labs for many years.
In 1818, Hare became a chemistry professor at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, a position he held for over thirty years until he retired in 1847. He was a creative and committed teacher who frequently used demonstrations in his lectures. Besides the blowpipe, he invented various original instruments and apparatus, such as improved galvanic batteries and devices for studying electrical phenomena, as well as tools related to electrochemistry. He published numerous papers in scientific journals both in America and Europe and corresponded with leading scientists of his time.
In 1839, Hare received the Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the most prestigious scientific awards in the United States at the time, for his inventions and contributions to applied science. He was also made a Fellow of this Academy. These honors confirmed his position among the top American scientists before the Civil War.
In his later years, Hare became interested in spiritualism, a movement gaining popularity in the 1850s. Initially skeptical and planning to debunk it as fraud, he ended up becoming a believer after conducting experiments and published a defense of spiritualist phenomena in 1855. This change surprised and upset many of his scientific colleagues but did not overshadow the major contributions he made to legitimate science throughout his career. He died in Philadelphia in 1858, leaving a legacy of invention and teaching that played a key role in shaping American chemistry during its early years.
Before Fame
Robert Hare was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family when the U.S. was still figuring out its intellectual and scientific institutions. His father, Robert Hare Sr., was a successful brewer, and the family's wealth allowed young Robert to get an education and spend time on scientific experiments from an early age. Philadelphia in the late 18th century was the cultural and intellectual hub of the new nation, home to the American Philosophical Society and a busy community of natural philosophers.
Hare had a solid general education and developed a keen interest in chemistry just as the field was changing dramatically due to Antoine Lavoisier's work in France. Although he didn't hold any formal academic position, he conducted experiments privately and funded them himself. He invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe before turning twenty, showing his technical skill and desire to explore new possibilities in experimental heat, which first caught the attention of the wider scientific community.
Key Achievements
- Invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe around 1801, enabling the first reliable high-temperature chemical and metallurgical experiments
- Served as professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School from 1818 to 1847
- Awarded the Rumford Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1839
- Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Designed numerous original scientific instruments, including improved galvanic batteries, advancing experimental chemistry in the United States
Did You Know?
- 01.Hare invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe in 1801 at approximately age twenty, before holding any university appointment.
- 02.He used his blowpipe to melt platinum and other refractory materials that no laboratory instrument had previously been able to liquefy.
- 03.Late in life he became a public advocate for spiritualism, publishing 'Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations' in 1855 after initially setting out to disprove such phenomena.
- 04.He taught chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School for roughly thirty years, from 1818 until his retirement in 1847.
- 05.Hare designed and built a wide variety of his own laboratory instruments, including enhanced galvanic batteries, which he used to advance early electrochemical research.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Rumford Prize | 1839 | — |
| Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | — | — |