Editing Samuel Webber

{{Short description|President of Harvard University}}
{{distinguish|Samuel Weber}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]]
| name        = Samuel Webber
| image       =
| order       =
| title       = President of [[Harvard University]]
| term_start  = 1804
| term_end    = 1810
| predecessor = [[Eliphalet Pearson]] {{small|''acting''}}
| successor   = [[John Thornton Kirkland]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth year|1759}}
| birth_place = [[Byfield, Massachusetts|Byfield]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1810|07|17|1759}}
| death_place = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]]
| signature   = Signature of Samuel Webber.png
}}
'''Samuel Webber''' (1759 – July 17, 1810) was an American [[Congregational church|Congregational]] [[clergyman]], [[mathematician]], [[academic]], and the 13th [[president of Harvard University]] from 1806 until his death in 1810.

==Biography==
Webber was born in [[Byfield, Massachusetts]], in 1759.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9kbAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA417 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=VI |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=417 |year=1896 |access-date=2020-11-30 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He was educated at Dummer Academy (now known as [[The Governor's Academy]]) and [[Harvard College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], 1784; [[Master's degree|M.A.]], 1787) where he distinguished himself in [[mathematics]]. He was a member of the [[Hasty Pudding Theatricals|Hasty Pudding]]. Webber was ordained as [[Congregational church|Congregational]] minister in 1787 and two years later became [[Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy|Hollis Professor of Mathematick and Natural Philosophy]] at Harvard.<ref name=Quin1915>{{Cite book |title=Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard university, 1636–1915 |year=1915 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, MA |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiNOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA21 |access-date=May 24, 2015}}</ref> He served in the commission that drew the boundaries, later recognized by the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]], between the new [[United States of America]] and the surrounding [[United Kingdom|British]] provinces. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1789<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterW.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=August 7, 2014}}</ref> and also served as vice-president of the Academy. He authored ''System of Mathematics'', which for many years served as the only textbook on the subject in [[New England]].<ref name="appletons">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Webber, Samuel|year=1889}}</ref>

Webber was appointed [[President of Harvard University|president]] of Harvard in 1806. That same year he received an honorary [[Doctor of Divinity]] degree from that institution.  He led Harvard until his death in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 17, 1810.<ref name=Cyclopaedia/>

==Family==
Webber's son, Samuel Jr., married Anna Winslow Green, a granddaughter of [[David Mathews]], [[Loyalist]] [[Mayor of New York City]] under the [[Great Britain|British]] during the [[American Revolution]].  Webber's son, also named Samuel (September 15, 1797 [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] – December 5, 1880 [[Charlestown, New Hampshire]]), was a distinguished [[physician]], [[chemist]] and author.<ref name="appletons"/>

==Works==
* “Introduction” to [[Jedidiah Morse]], ''American Universal Geography'', 1796 (revision)
* ''System of Mathematics'', (2 vols.), 1801
* ''Eulogy on President Willard'', 1804

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Eliphalet Pearson]], ''acting''
| title  = [[President of Harvard University]]
| years  = 1806–1810
| after  = [[John Thornton Kirkland]]
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Samuel Williams (Harvard)|Samuel Williams]]
| title  = [[Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy]]
| years  = 1789-1806
| after  = [[John Farrar (scientist)|John Farrar]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Harvard University presidents}}
{{Hollisian Professors of Mathematics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webber, Samuel}}
[[Category:18th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Presidents of Harvard University]]
[[Category:American Congregationalists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:1759 births]]
[[Category:1810 deaths]]
[[Category:Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy]]
[[Category:Hasty Pudding alumni]]
[[Category:The Governor's Academy alumni]]