Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Abbot, Joseph Hale

ABBOT, Joseph Hale, educator, b. in Wilton, N. H., 26 Sept., 1802; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 7 April, 1873. He was graduated at Bowdoin college in 1822, was tutor there in 1825-'27, and from 1827 to 1833 professor of mathematics and teacher of modern languages in Phillips Exeter academy. He then taught a school for young ladies in Boston, and subsequently became principal of the high school in Beverly, Mass. He was a member, and for several years recording secretary, of the American academy of arts and sciences, to whose "Transactions" he contributed numerous scientific papers. He paid much attention to the solving of pneumatic and hydraulic problems, and published ingenious and original speculations on these subjects. In the "Ether Controversy" he was an advocate of the claims of Dr. Charles T. Jackson, and wrote warmly in his behalf. He was associated with Dr. Worcester in the preparation of his English Dictionary, and furnished many of the scientific definitions.