The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Chase, Pliny Earle

CHASE, Pliny Earle, American scientist: b. Worcester, Mass., 18 Aug. 1820; d. Haverford, Pa., 17 Dec. 1886, He was graduated at Harvard, 1839; taught in Philadelphia and engaged in business for many years, but employed his leisure in physical and philological studies. In 1864 the Magellanic gold medal of the American Philosophical Society was awarded him for his ‘Numerical Relations of Gravity and Magnetism.’ The results of other mathematical and physical researches were published from time to time in the ‘Proceedings’ of the American Philosophical Society, and brought him a wide reputation, both in the United States and abroad, as a man of unusual scientific powers and attainments. In 1871 he became a member of the faculty of Haverford College, Pa., and for a long time was professor of philosophy and logic. He published ‘Elements of Meteorology’ (1884).