Editing Alexander Dallas Bache

{{short description|American scientist (1806–1867)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name              = Alexander Dallas Bache
|image             = Alexander Dalls Bache pers0117.jpg
|image_size        = 250px
|caption           = A 19th century illustration of Bache and his signature
|order             = 6th
|title             = Superintendent of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|United States Coast Survey]]
|term_start        = 1843
|term_end          = 1867
|president         = {{ublist|[[James K. Polk]]|[[Zachary Taylor]]|[[Millard Fillmore]]|[[Franklin Pierce]]|[[James Buchanan]]|[[Abraham Lincoln]]|[[Andrew Johnson]]}}
|predecessor       = [[Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler]]
|successor         = [[Benjamin Peirce]]
|order1            = 1st
|title1            = President of the [[National Academy of Sciences]]
|term_start1       = 1863
|term_end1         = 1867
|predecessor1      = 
|successor1        = [[Joseph Henry]]
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|1806|7|19}}
|birth_place       = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|death_date        = {{Death date and age|1867|2|17|1806|7|19}}
|death_place       = [[Newport, Rhode Island]], U.S.
|resting_place     = [[Congressional Cemetery]]
|spouse            = Nancy Clark Fowler
|children          = 1
|module            = 
  {{Infobox scientist | embed=yes
  |field             = Physics
  |work_institutions = [[University of Pennsylvania]]
  |alma_mater        = [[US Military Academy]]
  |known_for         = coastal mapping project
  }}
}}

'''Alexander Dallas Bache''' (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and [[Surveying|surveyor]] who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army engineer, he later became Superintendent of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|United States Coast Survey]], and built it into the foremost scientific institution in the country before the [[American Civil War]].

==Early life and education==
Bache was born in [[Philadelphia]],{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} the son of [[Richard Bache Jr. (Texas politician)|Richard Bache, Jr.]], and Sophia Burrell Dallas Bache. He came from a family prominent in American politics. He was the nephew of Vice-President [[George M. Dallas]] and naval hero [[Alexander J. Dallas (United States Navy officer)|Alexander J. Dallas]], the grandson of Secretary of the Treasury [[Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)|Alexander Dallas]], and the great-grandson of [[Benjamin Franklin]].{{sfn|''Chambers''|1961}}

==Career==
===United States Army===
After graduating from the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York|West Point]] in 1825, as first in his class, he was an assistant professor of engineering there for some time.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} As a second lieutenant in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]], he was engaged in the construction of [[Fort Adams]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} Bache resigned from the Army on June 1, 1829.

===University of Pennsylvania===
Bache was a professor of [[natural philosophy]] and chemistry at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1828 to 1841 and again from 1842 to 1843.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} He spent 1836–1838 in Europe on behalf of the trustees of what became [[Girard College]]; he was named president of the college after his return.<ref>{{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Bache, Alexander Dallas |volume= 1 |pages= 172-173 |short=1}}</ref> Abroad, he examined European education systems, and on his return he published a valuable report.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} From 1839 to 1842, he served as the first president of [[Central High School of Philadelphia]], one of the oldest public high schools in the United States.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}}

===U.S. Coast Survey===
In 1843, on the death of Professor [[Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler]], Bache was appointed superintendent of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|United States Coast Survey]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} Whereas Hassler had faced continual doubts from Congress, Bache succeeded in convincing legislators of the value of [[geodesy]] in addition to [[geomagnetic]] and meteorological research.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} With many contacts, friends, and family among the nation's political and military leaders, Bache won liberal appropriations to build up his agency and greatly expand its work. By the mid 1850s it had become the federal government's leading scientific bureau. In 1849, it began study of the Pacific Coast, which the US had newly acquired via the [[US-Mexico War]] and [[Oregon Treaty]]. Assisted by [[Isaac Stevens]], his number two in Washington, DC, Bache reorganized the Coast Survey so that it could complete initial mapping of the entire US coast.<ref>James Tejani, ''A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America'' (New York, 2024) {{ISBN|978-1-324-09355-8}}, pp. 21–25, 70-79.</ref>

===The American Association for the Advancement of Science, Smithsonian, and "Lazzaroni"===
By the 1840s, a clique of leading US scientists began to coalesce around Bache with the goal of professionalizing their fields. They formalized with establishment of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists in 1843 (renamed the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] five years later) and the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in 1846. Informally, Bache and his circle called themselves the [[Scientific Lazzaroni]]. Together, the groups created and enforced standards of intellectual merit with the goal of elevating the nation and its reputation. This meant discrediting charlatans but, at times, also denying research funding or academic appointments to others. Perhaps most important, the groups advised and even mentored politicians and army engineers. Bache would lead the AAAS until 1851 and serve on the Smithsonian's board of regents throughout his term as Coast Survey superintendent.<ref>Lillian Miller, ''The Lazzaroni: Science and Scientists in Mid-Nineteenth Century America'' (Washington, DC, 1972), pp. 2–7, 9-17.</ref>

===Civil War and Later Life===
As the sectional crisis worsened through the late 1850s, Coast Survey budgets became ensnared by polarization and conflicts in Congress. Then, the start of war in 1861 brought a stop to work along the South's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Bache withdrew Survey ships from the region so they would not fall into secessionists' hands. At the same time, some staff resigned to join the Confederacy. A number of trusted friends and Democratic allies, including senators [[Jefferson Davis]] and [[Stephen Mallory]], would lead the rebellion — acts that Bache took as both political and personal treachery.

Yet the Civil War enhanced the Coast Survey's stature in Washington, DC. By this time, the agency had amassed charts of southern harbors, rivers, and coastal terrain. The research gave a critical advantage to the Union military. Meanwhile, Bache continued to lead scientists to greater influence in government, helping to establish the [[U.S. Sanitary Commission]] and [[National Academy of Sciences]].

Official duties and private worries contributed to Bache's declining health. By 1864 he had suffered a stroke, which left him handicapped and unable to work without his wife's assistance.<ref>James Tejani, ''A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America'' (New York, 2024) {{ISBN|978-1-324-09355-8}}, pp. 174, 272-273.</ref> 

Bache served as head of the Coast Survey for 24 years (until his death).

==Awards and honors==
* Elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1829.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1829;year-max=1829;smode=advanced;f1-date=1829|access-date=2021-04-07|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* Elected an Associate Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1845.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 28, 2011}}</ref> 
* Elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] on March 15, 1858,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/fellowship/all_fellows.pdf |title=Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002 |publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |access-date=March 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828135318/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/fellowship/all_fellows.pdf |archive-date=August 28, 2008 }}</ref> 
* Elected Foreign Member of the [[Royal Society]] on May 24, 1860.

After the Civil War, Bache was elected a 3rd Class Companion of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]] (MOLLUS) in consideration of his contributions to the war effort.

==Personal life==
He married Nancy Clark Fowler on September 30, 1838, in [[Newport, Rhode Island]]. She was born in Newport and died on January 13, 1870, in Philadelphia. She assisted in the publication of much of his work. They adopted one son, Henry Wood Bache (1839–1878).<ref name="henrywoodbache">{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.noaa.gov/cgsbios/h_bache.html |title=Henry Wood Bache |website=noaa.gov |access-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-date=December 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216025408/http://www.history.noaa.gov/cgsbios/h_bache.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:AD Bache Tomb 1.JPG|thumb|Bache's gravesite at [[Congressional Cemetery]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
He died at Newport, Rhode Island on February 17, 1867, from [[cerebral softening]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} He was buried in the [[Congressional Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C., under a [[Alexander Dallas Bache Monument|monument]] designed by architect [[Henry Hobson Richardson]].

==Legacy==
*Two survey ships were named for him, the [[USC&GS A. D. Bache (1871)|''A. D. Bache'']] of 1871 and [[USC&GS A. D. Bache (1901)|its successor]] in 1901.

*The cydippid ctenophore ''[[Pleurobrachia bachei]]'' A. Agassiz, 1860 was named for him; it was discovered in 1859 by [[Alexander Agassiz]] who was working as an engineer on a ship surveying the United States-Canada border between [[Washington (state)|Washington state]] and [[British Columbia]].<ref>Agassiz, G.R. 1913. Letters and recollections of Alexander Agassiz, with a sketch of his life and work, ed. by G.R. Agassiz. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 454 pages</ref>

*Bache-Martin School, a public elementary school in Philadelphia, has its 5th-8th grade building named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bachemartin.philasd.org/|title=Bache-Martin School – The School District of Philadelphia}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[Alexander Dallas Bache Monument]], Bache's gravesite in the Congressional Cemetery in [[Washington, D.C.]]
*[[Alexander Dallas Bache School]] in Philadelphia
*[[Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line]]
*[[Richard Bache]], Bache's paternal grandfather and son-in-law of [[Benjamin Franklin]]
*[[Richard Bache Jr. (Texas politician)|Richard Bache, Jr.]], Bache's father
*[[Sarah Franklin Bache]], Bache's paternal grandmother and daughter of Benjamin Franklin

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{citation |contribution=Alexander Dallas Bache (1806–1867) |title=Chambers's Encyclopædia |location=London |publisher=[[George Newnes Ltd|George Newnes]] |date=1961 |volume=II |page=35 |title-link=Chambers's Encyclopædia |ref={{harvid|''Chambers''|1961}}}}
*{{citation |last=Gould |first=Benjamin Apthorp |year=1868 |title=An Address in Commemoration of Alexander Dallas Bache: Delivered August 6, 1868, Before the American Association for the Advancement of Science |location=Salem, Mass. |publisher=Essex Institute Press |isbn=9780608421643 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KkaAAAAYAAJ&q=An+Address+in+Commemoration+of+Alexander+Dallas+Bache%22+gould}}
* {{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Alexander Dallas Bache |volume=3  |ref={{harvid|EB|1878}} |page=196 }}
* {{citation |last=Slotten | first=Hugh Richard |year=1994 |title=Patronage, Practice and the Culture of American Science: Alexander Dallas Bache and the U. S. Coast Survey |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=0-521-43395-9}}
*{{citation |author=J.C. |title=Obituary: Alexander Dallas Bache |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=28  |issue=1 |pages=72–75 |year=1868 |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0028//0000072.000.html |access-date=March 5, 2008}}
* {{citation |last=Reingold |first=Nathan |title=Alexander Dallas Bache |encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] |volume=1 |pages=363–365  |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |year=1970 |isbn=0-684-10114-9}}
*{{citation |last=Heyl |first=PR |publication-date=March 21, 1941 |year=1941 |title=The One Hundredth Anniversary Of The Establishment Of The Alexander Dallas Bache Magnetic Observatory |volume=93 |issue=2412 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |pages=272–273 |doi = 10.1126/science.93.2412.272 |pmid=17834787 |bibcode = 1941Sci....93..272H }}
*{{citation |last=Odgers |first=Merle M. |year=1947 |title=Alexander Dallas Bache: Scientist and Educator |location= Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press}}
* {{citation |last=Jansen |first=Axel |title=Alexander Dallas Bache: Building the American Nation through Science and Education in the Nineteenth Century Book |location=New York / Frankfurt |publisher= Campus Verlag |year=2011 |page=352 |isbn=978-3-593-39355-1}}
*{{citation |last=Tejani |first=James |year=2024 |title=A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles -- and America |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9781324093558 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODHXEAAAQBAJ&dq=a+machine+to+move&pg=RA1-PA1859}}


'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Bache, Alexander Dallas |volume=3 |ref={{harvid|EB|1911}} |pages=131–132 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Alexander Dallas Bache}}
*[http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/FARU7053.htm Finding Aid to Alexander Dallas Bache Papers, 1821–1869]
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bache-alexander-d.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120209235310/http://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/coastsurveyvol1/BACHE1.html The Bache Years (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library)]
*[http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/historymakers/bache/welcome.html Alexander Dallas Bache: Leader of American Science and Second Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)]

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler]]}}
{{s-ttl|order=6th|title=[[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|Superintendent, United States Coast Survey]]|years=1843–1867}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Benjamin Peirce]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|order=1st|title=President of the [[National Academy of Sciences]]|years=1863{{snd}}1867}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Joseph Henry]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{NAS presidents}}
{{Benjamin Franklin}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, Alexander Dallas}}
[[Category:1806 births]]
[[Category:1867 deaths]]
[[Category:American chemists]]
[[Category:American physicists]]
[[Category:Burials at the Congressional Cemetery]]
[[Category:Engineers from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Franklin family]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientists from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:United States Coast Survey personnel]]
[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]