an American scientist who is best known for his reformulation of baking powder, his interest in Viking settlements in America, and the monuments he built to Leif Erikson. He studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating as a civil engineer at age 19. He then worked for two years in the Geological Survey of New York, and shortly after he had reached his majority he became an instructor in mathematics and the sciences at the Albany Female Academy, where he taught for four years.
