Daniel Coit Gilman

American educator
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Quick Facts
Born:
July 6, 1831, Norwich, Conn., U.S.
Died:
Oct. 13, 1908, Norwich (aged 77)

Daniel Coit Gilman (born July 6, 1831, Norwich, Conn., U.S.—died Oct. 13, 1908, Norwich) was an American educator and the first president of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. After graduating from Yale University in 1852, Gilman traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, with his friend A.D. White (who became the first president of Cornell University in 1868). Gilman worked as an attaché in St. Petersburg and then studied in Berlin (1854–55). For 17 years thereafter, he worked at Yale—as assistant librarian, professor of geography, and secretary of the governing board of Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School. From 1872 to 1875 he headed the ...(100 of 211 words)