Gilman, Daniel Coit

Gilman, Daniel Coit

(1831–1908) geographer, university administrator; born in Norwich, Conn. A graduate of Yale (1852), he returned to help create Yale's Sheffield Scientific School (1856), later becoming professor of physical and political geography there (1863–72). He then became president of the University of California: Berkeley (1872–75). At the recommendation of the presidents of Harvard, Cornell, and Michigan, he was chosen to be the first president of Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.) (1875–1902). Stressing the importance of graduate schools, he founded Johns Hopkins Medical School (1893), which immediately attracted leading physicians and top-ranked students. After retiring, he helped found the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C. (1902–05).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.