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Authorised form of nameBowdoin; James (1726 - 1790)
Dates1726 - 1790
NationalityAmerican
Place of birthBoston, Massachusetts [now United States of America, North and Central America]
Date of birth07 August 1726
Place of deathBoston, Massachusetts, United States of America, North and Central America
Date of death06 November 1790
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
Granary burying ground, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, North and Central America
OccupationMerchant; politician
Research fieldElectricity
Astronomy
ActivityEducation:
South Grammar School (now Boston Latin School); Harvard (1745); Edinburgh, LLD
Career:
Member of the Massachusetts General Court (1753-1756); Councillor (1756); supported an expedition to Newfoundland to observe the transit of Venus across the sun (1761); President of the Massachusetts Council (1775-1777); Fellow of Harvard University (1779); first President of the Massachusetts Bank (1784); Governor of Massachusettts (1785-1786); advocate of American independence involved in drafting the consitituion of Massachusetts; corresponded with Benjamin Franklin and collaborated with him on his pioneering work in electricity, Franklin also communicated letters from Bowdoin to the Royal Society
Memberships:
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (co- founder and first President); FRSE; Massachusetts Humane Society (first President 1786)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election03/04/1788
Age at election61
Other Royal Society activityThe first Fellow to be elected from the newly independent America, he was accordingly listed on the 'foreign list' as was the convention before the formal institution of the classification 'Foreign Member of the Royal Society'
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DAB; Wikipedia
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/47563076
CodeNA2772
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1787/32Bowdoin, James: certificate of election to the Royal Society
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