THE INCORPORATORS 173 
Board. In the last position he visited many stations, and took part 
in many experiments, both in acoustics and optics. This work, 
while adding to his fame, was a severe strain upon his physical 
forces. A serious illness overtook him, and he died at the Barber 
house, the site of the New Observatory, on May 5s, 1882, after 
fifty-four years of public service. 
(From AsapH HALL, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 
Sciences, vol. 6, 1909, pp. 81-92. See also CHARLES O. PAULLIN, “ Services of 
Commodore John Rodgers in the War of 1812,” and “In Our Wars with the 
Barbary Corsairs”’; also “ A Biography of Commodore John Rodgers.’’) 
FAIRMAN ROGERS 
Born, November 15, 1833; died, August 22, 1900 
The faculties that gave Fairman Rogers prominence as a man 
of science seem to have been inherited in large part from his 
father, Evans Rogers, and from his maternal grandfather, 
Gideon Fairman, who was a noted inventor. He was born on 
November 15, 1833 in Philadelphia, and while yet in the pre- 
paratory school gave promise of a brilliant career. He entered 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1849, and was very successful 
in his studies, especially in the physical sciences, so much so 
that Dr. John F. Frazer, then Professor of Chemistry and 
Physics in the University, foreseeing a brilliant future for his 
pupil, not only aided him in his class work, but introduced him 
to his scientific acquaintances. ‘Two years after graduation, Mr. 
Rogers became connected with the United States Coast Survey, 
and in 1857 assisted Professor Bache in determining the Epping 
base-line in Maine. At this time he was Professor of Civil 
Engineering in the University of Pennsylvania, and also lectured 
at the Franklin Institute, and later at Harvard University. In 
1861 he delivered a course of lectures in the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, on the construction of roads and bridges, and, later, a course 
on glaciers. He also made a survey of the Potomac River for the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
At the beginning of the Civil War, Professor Rogers served 
as first sergeant of the Philadelphia city cavalry in a three months’ 
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