Thomas Hill (clergyman)

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Thomas Hill (clergyman) bigraphy, stories - Presidents

Thomas Hill (clergyman) : biography

January 7, 1818 – November 21, 1891

Thomas Hill (January 7, 1818. Oasis.lib.harvard.edu. Retrieved on 2011-09-18. – November 21, 1891) was an American Unitarian clergyman, mathematician, scientist, philosopher and educator. Taught to read at an early age, Hill read voraciously and was well regarded for his capacious and accurate memory. He was taught botany by his father, took a delight in nature and devised scientific instruments, one of which was designed to calculate eclipses and was subsequently awarded the Scott Medal by the Franklin Institute. Though not formally educated in his youth, Hill briefly attended the Lower Dublin Academy in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania and the Leicester Academy in Massachusetts, now the Leicester campus of Becker College, leaving in 1837. He earned his A.B. and D.Div. from Harvard University in 1843 and 1845 respectively. Hill was president of Antioch College from 1860 to 1862 until the Civil War forced the college to shut down; he then held the presidency of Harvard University from 1862 to 1868.