Professors of Natural Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century

The introductory physics course taught in American College and Universities in the twenty-first century is a descendent of the natural philosophy—later, physics—course that developed in these institutions in the nineteenth century. In the present paper, I discuss the backgrounds of a number of prominent professors of natural philosophy who taught these courses. These came, variously from experience as high-school teachers, engineers, and clergymen. Few of them planned to become faculty members, as contrasted to today’s professors who have rigorous educational and research training to prepare themselves for their task.