Benjamin Franklin Greene

{{Infobox person | name = Benjamin Franklin Greene | birth_date = November 18, 1817 | birth_place = Providence, Rhode Island, United States | death_date = October 17, 1895 | occupation = Engineer; educator | employer = Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | known_for = Director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute }}

'''Benjamin Franklin Greene''' (1817–1895) was the third senior professor and first director of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

==Early life== He was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire on October 25, 1817. He graduated from Rensselaer in 1842. He taught mathematics at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland from 1843 to 1846.<ref name=Ricketts92>{{Harvnb|Ricketts|1934|pp=91–92.}}</ref>

==Career== In 1846, he was appointed senior professor at Rensselaer, replacing George Hammell Cook, who served as senior professor since the death of Amos Eaton in 1842.<ref name=Ricketts92/> He conducted an extensive study of the technical schools of Europe, such as the École Polytechnique of Paris and the Polytechnisches Institut in Vienna.<ref>{{Harvnb|Greene|1855|pp=8–31.}}</ref> He wrote an extensive report describing the European schools and the changes he felt were appropriate. He envisioned changing the school from a one-year graduate program to a comprehensive undergraduate program.<ref>{{Harvnb|Greene|1855}}</ref> The plan also including relocation of the school from downtown to a thirty-acre site on a hill.<ref>{{Harvnb|Greene|1855|pp=81–2.}}</ref> However, the plan was not entirely successful. It was estimated later that his plans would have required between one and two million dollars, which was an enormous amount at the time.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rezneck|1968|p=94.}}</ref> For instance, it proposed a school of architecture at a time when there was no such school anywhere in the U.S. However, the school of architecture was not established until 1929.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rezneck|1968|p=272.}}</ref> When its new home was completed in 1931, it was named the Greene Building in his honor.

In 1850, he formally became director of Rensselaer.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ricketts|1934|p=93.}}</ref> (He used the title as early as 1847<ref>{{Harvnb|Rezneck|1968|p=79.}}</ref> but it was not formal until the state legislature created the title in 1850.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ricketts|1934|p=104.}}</ref>) In 1851, he changed the name of the school from Rensselaer Institute to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The name was officially changed by state legislation in 1861.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ricketts|1934|p=102.}}</ref>

Greene resigned from Rensselaer in 1859 after disagreements with the board of trustees.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ricketts|1934|p=107.}}</ref> He then started a competing engineering school, but it failed after three years. He was chief clerk of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Navigation from 1863 to 1873 and then a professor of mathematics in the U.S. Navy.<ref name=Nason/>

==Personal life== He married in 1848 but his wife died two years later.<ref name=Nason>{{Harvnb|Nason|1855|p=129.}}</ref>

He died in West Lebanon, New Hampshire on November 22, 1895.<ref>{{Harvnb|The New York Times|1895|p=5.}}</ref>

==References== ;Notes {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

;Bibliography {{refbegin}} * {{citation |last=Baker|first=Ray Palmer|title=A Chapter in American Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1924|year=1924|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York, NY|url=http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/Baker,RP_1924/part1_a_chap_American_ed.pdf}} * {{citation |last=Greene|first=Benjamin Franklin|title=The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Its Reorganization in 1849-50, Its Condition at the Present Time, Its Plans and Hopes for the Future|year=1855|publisher=D.H. Jones & Co.|location=Troy, NY|url=http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/Greene,BF_1855/Part%201_Rennsselaer_poly.pdf}} * {{citation |last=Nason|first=Henry B.|title=Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1886|year=1855|publisher=D.H. Jones & Co.|location=Troy, NY|url=http://www.lib.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/Archives/e-collections/Nason,HB_1887/Part_3_bio_record_rens_officers_and_grads.pdf}} * {{citation |last=Rezneck|first=Samuel|title=Education for a Technological Society: A Sesquicentennial History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute|year=1968|publisher=Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute|location=Troy, NY|url=http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/Rezneck,S_1968/Part%201_edu_technological-8.pdf}} * {{citation |last=Ricketts|first=Palmer C.|title=History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1934, Third Edition|year=1934|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|location=New York, NY|url=http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/Ricketts,PC_1934/Part%201_history_renss.pdf}} * {{citation |newspaper=The New York Times|title=Alexandre Dumas Dead|pages=5|date=November 28, 1895|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/11/28/archives/alexandre-dumas-dead-the-most-highly-appreciated-of-the-centurys.html |ref=CITEREFThe_New_York_Times1895}} {{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Benjamin Franklin}} Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty Category:1817 births Category:1895 deaths Category:Washington College faculty