Alexander Dallas Bache

Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and surveyor who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army engineer, he later became Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, and built it into the foremost scientific institution in the country before the Civil War.
Early life and education
Bache was born in Philadelphia, the son of Richard Bache, Jr., and Sophia Burrell Dallas Bache. He came from a family prominent in American politics. He was the nephew of Vice-President George M. Dallas and naval hero Alexander J. Dallas, the grandson of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Dallas, and the great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin.
Career
United States Army
After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1825, as first in his class, he was an assistant professor of engineering there for some time. As a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, he was engaged in the construction of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. Bache resigned from the Army on June 1, 1829.
University of Pennsylvania
Bache was a professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania from 1828 to 1841 and again from 1842 to 1843. He spent 1836–1838 in Europe on behalf of the trustees of what became Girard College; he was named president of the college after his return. Abroad, he examined European education systems, and on his return he published a valuable report. From 1839 to 1842, he served as the first president of Central High School of Philadelphia, one of the oldest public high schools in the United States.
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
In 1843, on the death of Professor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Bache was appointed superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. He convinced the United States Congress of the value of this work and, by means of the liberal aid it granted, he completed the mapping of the whole coast by a skillful division of labor and the erection of numerous observing stations. In addition, geomagnetic and meteorological data were collected. Bache served as head of the Coast Survey for 24 years (until his death).
Awards and honors
Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1829.
Elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1845.
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on March 15, 1858,
Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society on May 24, 1860.
After the Civil War, Bache was elected a 3rd Class Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) in consideration of his contributions to the war effort.
Personal life
He married Nancy Clark Fowler on September 30, 1838, in Newport, Rhode Island. She was born in Newport and died on January 13, 1870, in Philadelphia. She assisted in the publication of much of his work. They adopted one son, Henry Wood Bache (1839–1878).
Death
He died at Newport, Rhode Island] on February 17, 1867, from cerebral softening. He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., under a monument designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson.
Legacy
Two survey ships were named for him, the A. D. Bache of 1871 and its successor in 1901.
The cydippid ctenophore Pleurobrachia bachei A. Agassiz, 1860 was named for him; it was discovered in 1859 by Alexander Agassiz who was working as an engineer on a ship surveying the United States-Canada border between Washington state and British Columbia.
Bache-Martin School, a public elementary school in Philadelphia, has its 5th-8th grade building named after him.
See also
Alexander Dallas Bache Monument, Bache's gravesite in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Alexander Dallas Bache School in Philadelphia
Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line
Richard Bache, Bache's paternal grandfather and son-in-law of Benjamin Franklin
Richard Bache, Jr., Bache's father
Sarah Franklin Bache, Bache's paternal grandmother and daughter of Benjamin Franklin
Notes
References
Attribution:
External links
Finding Aid to Alexander Dallas Bache Papers, 1821–1869
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
The Bache Years (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library)
Alexander Dallas Bache: Leader of American Science and Second Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
1806 births
1867 deaths
American chemists
American physicists
Burials at the Congressional Cemetery
Engineers from Pennsylvania
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Franklin family
Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Presidents of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Scientists from Philadelphia
United States Army officers
United States Coast Survey personnel
United States Military Academy alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty