Professor Josiah Willard Gibbs, c mid-20th century

Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903) was an American mechanical engineer and scientist. He is credited with helping transform the study of physical chemistry. He created modern vector calculus. He studied at Yale University. He was awarded the first American doctorate in engineering by Yale University in 1863. He earned praise from Albert Einstein as "the greatest mind in American history". He was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London, the highest award at the time, in 1901. Gibbs never married or had children, and lived his life in his childhood home with his sister and her husband. He died in 1903, aged 64, from acute intestinal obstruction.