Gorham, John, 1783-1829

John Gorham (1783-1829), a chemist and physician from Boston, Massachusetts, served as Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica from 1809 to 1816 and Erving Professor of Chemistry from 1816 to 1827 at Harvard University. Gorham helped establish the chemistry department at the Harvard Medical School. His treatise on chemistry, The Elements of Chemical Science (1819-1820), was one of the first systematic text books on chemistry adapted to the needs of college students in American higher education. Gorham resigned his professorship in 1827 after the Harvard Corporation voted to require the Erving Professor of Chemistry to reside in Cambridge.

The chair of Chemistry was endowed as the Erving Professorship of Chemistry and Materia Medica in 1791, under the will of William Erving (A.B. 1753), and was known by this title until 1816. From 1816 to 1827, the professorship was the known as the Erving Professorship of Chemistry. From 1827 to 1894, it was entitled the Erving Professorship of Chemistry and Mineralogy. In 1894, "Mineralogy" was removed from the title and the professorship was renamed the Erving Professorship of Chemistry.

The previous holder of the Erving Professorship of Chemistry was Aaron Dexter (1791-1816).

From the guide to the Correspondence by John Gorham, Erving Professor of Chemistry, 1825-1826 and undated., (Harvard University Archives)