Samuel Sheldon

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Samuel Sheldon: Biography

Born: 8 March 1862
Died: 4 September 1920

Samuel Sheldon was born in Middlebury, Vermont on 8 March 1862. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1883 with the degree of AB and then pursued graduate work, and received an AM in 1886. Afterward he studied in Wiirzburg, Germany, and received jis PhD in 1888. During his doctoral studies, he worked with Kohlrausch in his determination of the ohm as the unit of electrical resistance.

He was a professor of physics and electrical engineering at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn for the last thirty-one years of his life. He built a good reputation as a physicist and consulting engineer. He took a strong personal interest in his students and was a beloved teacher. Dr. Sheldon was the author and joint author of several college text-books.

Dr. Sheldon was president of the AIEE from 1906 to 1907. He was also a member of the APS, fellow of the AAAS, and active in the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

He died at Middlebury of Bright's disease, on 4 September 1920.