{{Short description|American physician (1810–1885)}} [[File:Members of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement.jpg|thumb|Robert William Hooper (standing, second from left) with the members of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement.]] '''Robert William Hooper''' (October 24, 1810{{snd}}April 13, 1885) was an American physician.
Hooper was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He entered the Phillips Academy at the age of 12, and graduated in 1826.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Charles Carroll |url=http://archive.org/details/biographicalcata00carp/page/130 |title=Biographical catalogue of the trustees, teachers, and students of Phillips academy, Andover, 1778-1830 |publisher=Andover Press |others=Memorial Hall Library |year=1903 |location=Andover, Mass. |pages=130}}</ref> He graduated from Harvard College in 1830<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1830-08-28 |title=Harvard college commencement |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_unitarian-register-and-the-universalist-leader_1830-08-28_9_35/page/n1/ |magazine=Christian Register |page=138 |volume=9 |issue=35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harvard university. Porcellian club |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofhono00harv/page/n45/ |title=Catalogue of the honorary and immediate members and of the library of the Porcellian club of Harvard university |publisher=Printed by Allen and Farnham |others=The Library of Congress |year=1857 |location=Cambridge |pages=40}}</ref> and later studied throughout Europe starting in 1833. He returned to the United States in 1835 and obtained an MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1836.<ref name="JSTOR">{{cite journal |year=1886 |title=Robert William Hooper |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-25129840/ |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |location=Boston |publisher=University press: John Wilson and son |volume=21 |pages=526–527 |jstor=25129840}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Various authors |url=http://archive.org/details/1830humemoirs00harv |title=1830. H. U. memoirs |publisher=Press of Rockwell and Churchill |others=University of California Libraries |year=1886 |location=Boston |pages=143–144}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Channing |first=W. |date=September 1, 1836 |title=Medical Graduates in Harvard University |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmedi127newy/page/80 |journal=United States Medical and Surgical Journal |volume=1 |pages=80}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harvard University |url=http://archive.org/details/quinquennialcat10univgoog |title=Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates |publisher=The University |others=New York Public Library |year=1890 |location=Cambridge, Mass.}}</ref> He also received an MD degree from Queen's University of Ireland in 1861.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/op1248579-1001/page/n21/ |title=Report on Condition and Progress of Queen's University, Ireland, 1860-61 |publisher=Alexander Thom, 87 & 88, Abbey-Street, for Her Majesty's stationery office |others=University of Southampton |year=1862 |location=Dublin |pages=22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 19, 1861 |title=Queen's University in Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/medicaltimesand29unkngoog/page/421/ |journal=The Medical Times and Gazette |location=London |publisher=John Churchill, 11, New Burlington Street |volume=2 |pages=421}}</ref> In Ireland, it is often given to those who already hold a doctorate.
Hooper married Ellen Sturgis on September 25, 1837. The couple had three children, all of whom outlived him. After Ellen Hooper's death on November 3, 1848,<ref name=JSTOR/><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=T. |first=J. M. |year=1887 |title=R. W. Hooper, M.D. |url=https://archive.org/details/journalamericanm09ameruoft/page/767/ |journal=The Journal of the American Medical Association |location=Chicago |volume=9 |pages=767}}</ref> he stopped working as a full-time doctor and took care of children himself. His practice after this point was focused on charitable causes. Henry Adams, who stayed with Hooper before the wedding with his daughter Marian Hooper Adams, commented that he was "a good deal of a slave to his two daughters".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lettersofhenryad0000unse_e7b1/page/229/ |title=letters of henry adams 1858-1891 |date= |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |others=Internet Archive |editor-last=Ford |editor-first=Worthington Chauncey |location=Boston and New York |pages=229}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaledin |first=Eugenia |title=The Education of Mrs. Henry Adams |date=July 22, 1994 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |pages=32}}</ref>
Hooper worked as a surgeon at the Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary and was a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum for thirty years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Boston Athenaeum |url=http://archive.org/details/athenaeumcentena00bostiala |title=The Athenæum centenary |last2=Bolton |first2=Charles Knowles |publisher=The Boston athenæum |others=University of California Libraries |year=1907 |location=Boston |pages=120}}</ref> He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society<ref>{{Cite book |last=Massachusetts Medical Society |url=http://archive.org/details/medicalcommunica05mass |title=Medical communications of the Massachusetts Medical Society |date=1836 |publisher=Boston : Printed for the Society |others=Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine}}</ref> and American Medical Association. He was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1871.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1886 |title=Report of the council. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_daedalus_may-1885-may-1886_21/page/517/ |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |location=Boston |publisher=University press: John Wilson and son |volume=21 |pages=517}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Robert William Hooper {{!}} American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-william-hooper |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=www.amacad.org |language=en}}</ref>
Hooper died on April 13, 1885, in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of 74.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 16, 1885 |title=Deaths |url=https://archive.org/details/per_the-boston-medical-and-surgical-journal_the-boston-medical-and-surgic_january-june-1885_112/page/384/ |journal=The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal |volume=112 |issue=16 |pages=384|doi=10.1056/NEJM188504161121612 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=NECROLOGY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY. |url=https://archive.org/details/per_the-boston-medical-and-surgical-journal_the-boston-medical-and-surgi_july-december-1885_113/page/657/ |journal=The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal |date=1885 |volume=113 |issue=27 |pages=657}}</ref>
==Sources== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}{{US-physician-stub}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Robert William}} Category:19th-century American surgeons Category:Harvard Medical School alumni Category:Medical doctors from Boston Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:1810 births Category:1885 deaths