Mayor, Alfred M. (Alfred Marshall), 1836-1897

Alfred M. Mayor was born Nov. 13, 1836 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a Maryland Senator and well-to-do. Alfred M. Mayor attended St. Mary's College and then completed his studies on his own. He became a good friend of Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute and developed a keen interest in the physical sciences.

In 1858 he accepted a chair in physics in Westminster College, Mo. He studied abroad in the Civil War, and returned in 1865 to take a chair of physics in chemistry at Pennsylvania College. Two years later he moved to Lehigh University where he became involved in the science of astronomy. Dr. Mayor completed the last 26 years of his career at the Stevens Institute of Technology. His many interests and research topics ranged in subject from acoustics to the physics of heat and magnetism.

Dr. Mayor married twice, first to Katherine Duckett Goldsborough who after giving birth to a son, Alfred G. Mayor, died in 1869. Dr. Mayor married second Maria Snowden. The two sons of this marriage, Brantz and Joseph Henry both died at an early age. Dr. Mayor continued his research up until his death in July 13, 1897 in Maplewood, New Jersey.

From the guide to the Alfred Marshall Mayor Papers, 1858-1897, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)