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chemistry

John William Draper

John William Draper is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John William Draper rather than just read about it. In short: John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing one of the first detailed photographs of the moon in 1840.

John William Draper — main illustration
John William Draper — illustration

Key takeaways

  • John William Draper belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect John William Draper to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of John William Draper from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing one of the first detailed photographs of the moon in 1840. He was also the first president of the American Chemical Society (1876–77) and a founder of the New York University School of Medicine. One of Draper's books, the History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, popularised the conflict thesis proposing intrinsic hostility in the relationship between religion and science. It was widely read and was translated into several languages. It makes minimal use of primary sources and is now recognized as thoroughly inaccurate . His son, Henry Draper, and his granddaughter, Antonia Maury, were astronomers. His granddaughter, Carlotta Maury (Antonia's younger sister), was a paleontologist. His eldest son, John Christopher Draper, was a chemist; and son Daniel Draper, a meteorologist.

Early life John William Draper was born May 5, 1811, in St. Helens, Lancashire, England, to John Christopher Draper, a Wesleyan clergyman, and Sarah (Ripley) Draper. He also had three sisters, Dorothy Catherine Draper (August 6, 1807 – December 10, 1901), Elizabeth Johnson, and Sarah Ripley. On June 23, he was baptized by the Wesleyan Methodist minister Jabez Bunting. His father often needed to move the family due to serving various congregations throughout England. John Wm. Draper was home tutored until 1822, when he entered Woodhouse Grove School. He returned to home instruction (1826) prior to entering University College London in 1829. While at University College London, Draper studied chemistry under the direction of Edward Turner (chemist). On September 13, 1831, John William Draper married Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Gardner (c. 1814–1870), the daughter of Daniel Gardner, a court physician to John VI of Portugal and Carlota Joaquina of Spain. Antonia was born in Brazil after the royal family fled Portugal with Napoleon's invasion. There is dispute as to the identity of Antonia's mother. Around 1830, Antonia was sent with her brother Daniel to live with their aunt in London. Following his father's death in July 1831, John William's mother was urged to move with her children to the US state of Virginia. John William hoped to acquire a teaching position at a local Methodist college.

Virginia In 1832, the family settled in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 7 miles (11 km) east of Christiansville (now Chase City). Although he arrived too late to obtain the prospective teaching position, John William established a laboratory in Christiansville. Here he conducted experiments and published eight papers before entering medical school. His sister Dorothy Catherine Draper provided finances through teaching drawing and painting for his medical education. In March 1836, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. That same year, he began teaching at Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia.

New York In 1837, Draper accepted an appointment to be head of chemistry in a proposed medical school at New York University, but sufficient funds were not available to go ahead with the project. In 1839, Draper was elected undergraduate professor of chemistry and botany at the university, and moved with his family to New York City . Once there he helped to found the New York University Medical School, acting as a professor there from 1840 to 1850, president of the school from 1850 to 1873, and as a professor of chemistry until 1881.

Work

Draper did important research in photochemistry, made portrait photography possible by his improvements (1839) on Louis Daguerre's process, and published Organization of Plants (1844), a textbook on Chemistry (1846), textbook on Natural Philosophy (1847), textbook on Physiology (1866), and Scientific Memoirs (1878) on radiant energy. In the spring of 1839, Draper, with years of experience in photochemistry, took Talbotype photographs at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia. However, he was dissatisfied with the results and decided to wait for the publication of the daguerreotype process. Once the details of the process arrived in America in late September 1839, Draper, now a professor at New York University, captured landscape photographs. On or around September 23, he took one of the earliest daguerreotype portraits, which depicted his assistant, William Henry Goode.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

John William Draper illustration
John William Draper: Daguerreotype from a group of portraits believed to have been made by Draper in 1839. It is one of the few early portraits which required the subject to keep his eyes closed due to the bright light.
Daguerreotype from a group of portraits believed to have been made by Draper in 1839. It is one of the few early portraits which required the subject to keep his eyes closed due to the bright light.
John William Draper: The earliest surviving daguerreotype of the Moon by Draper (1840)
The earliest surviving daguerreotype of the Moon by Draper (1840)
John William Draper: Copy of a photograph of Dorothy Catherine Draper (1807-1901) taken by John Draper c. 1840. Plate size: 8.3×10.2 cm (3 1/4×4 in).[5] See also another copy.
Copy of a photograph of Dorothy Catherine Draper (1807-1901) taken by John Draper c. 1840. Plate size: 8.3×10.2 cm (3 1/4×4 in).[5] See also another copy.
John William Draper: The Draper House (Henry Draper Observatory).
The Draper House (Henry Draper Observatory).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John William Draper

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John William Draper claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John William Draper before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John William Draper ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John William Draper

In research
John William Draper appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses John William Draper in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
John William Draper is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1811 births, 1882 deaths, 19th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for John William Draper outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study John William Draper in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what John William Draper means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain John William Draper out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John William Draper in simple terms?

John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing one of the first detailed photographs of the moon in 1840.

Why does John William Draper matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John William Draper?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John William Draper.

Tags

  • 1811 births
  • 1882 deaths
  • 19th-century American chemists
  • 19th-century American historians
  • 19th-century American male photographers
  • 19th-century American male writers
  • 19th-century American photographers
  • Alumni of University College London
  • American male non-fiction writers
  • American religious skeptics
  • Astrophotographers
  • British historians of science

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