death_date death_place birth_place citizenship image_size nationality fields birth_date known_for article_title name
may 25 , 1886 elmira , new york lima , new york usa 175px american educator may 14 , 1836 textbooks joel dorman steele
 joel dorman steele
joel dorman steele

joel dorman steele -lrb- may 14 , 1836 -- may 25 , 1886 -rrb- was an american educator .
he and his wife esther were important textbook writers of their period , on subjects including american history , chemistry , human physiology , physics , astronomy , and zoology .
in the preface to his posthumous `` popular physics '' , the publisher writes that his books `` attained an extraordinary degree of popularity , due to the author 's attractive style , his great skill in the selection of material suited to the demands of the schools for which the books were intended , his sympathetic spirit toward both teachers and pupils , and his earnest christian character , which was exhibited in all his writing . ''
born may 14 , 1836 , in lima , new york , he became a country schoolteacher at the age of 17 , leaving that position after an outbreak of typhoid fever killed his mother in 1851 .
he graduated from genesee college -lrb- now part of syracuse university -rrb- in 1858 , and became a school principal in oswego county in 1859 .
after being seriously injured in the american civil war , he returned to a school principalship in 1862 , in newark , new york , and in 1866 moved to another school in elmira , new york .
in 1872 he gave up teaching and devoted himself to full-time writing .
he died in elmira , on may 25 , 1886 .
steele is the namesake of the joel dorman steele professorship at syracuse university , currently held by a. p. balachandran .
it was announced on october 18 , 2012 that prof mark bowick would take over the position .
the steele memorial library in elmira is also named after him ; esther baker steele hall at syracuse university is named after his wife .
