Silliman, Benjamin

Benjamin Silliman, (born Dec. 4, 1816, New Haven, Conn., U.S.—died Jan. 14, 1885, New Haven), American chemist whose report on the potential uses of crude-oil products gave impetus to plans for drilling the first producing oil well, near Titusville, Pa.

The son of the noted geologist and chemist Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864), he assisted his father in setting up a chemical laboratory in 1842, out of which grew the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. He taught medical chemistry and toxicology at the University of Louisville, Ky., from 1849 to 1854. He then succeeded his father in the chair of chemistry at Yale.

Silliman prepared numerous reports on mines and on technical manufacturing processes and conducted fundamental research on meteorites, photography, and gases. The “Silliman Report” (1855) set forth his analysis of crude oil and of the potentially valuable products that could be refined from it.

Silliman’s works include First Principles of Chemistry (1847) and First Principles of Physics (1858). From 1838 to 1845 he assisted his father in editing the American Journal of Science and was then its coeditor in chief.