TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Former University of Alabama alumnus and president William R. Smith remembered one of his favorite professors at the Capstone, F.A.P. Barnard, as “a marvel of intellectual brilliancy and practical versatility He was conceded to be the best at whatever he attempted to do; he could turn the best sonnet, write the best love story, take the best daguerreotype picture, charm the most women, catch the most trout, and calculate the most undoubted almanac.” Bernard’s reputation as a renaissance man was well deserved, and his contributions to academia and the natural sciences in the 19th century South were enormous.
Robert Mellown and Gene Byrd chronicle two of Bernard’s many interests –daguerreotypy and astronomy — and the accomplishments he made in those respective fields in the spring 2000 issue of Alabama Heritage magazine.
Born in 1809 in Sheffield, Mass., Bernard’s innate natural talents and strong family background led him eventually to study at Yale, where he excelled in mathematics and graduated with honors in 1828. Soon thereafter, while teaching and pondering a career in law, Barnard discovered that he had a hearing impairment. The malady proved fateful –even fortuitous — because it channeled him toward a life in academia. After friends persuaded him to consult with the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, he was so impressed with the institution, he accepted a teaching position there.
Shortly thereafter, while visiting the library of a friend at Yale, Barnard chanced to meet with Dr. Basil Manly, a Baptist clergyman from Charleston, S.C., who had recently been selected as the new president of The University of Alabama. Manly, on the lookout for talented young professors, encouraged the young scholar to apply for a position at his university, and by 1838, Barnard had accepted a professorship in mathematics and natural philosophy in Tuscaloosa.
While here, Barnard exhibited amazing levels of energy, both professionally and socially. A gifted and engaging teacher, Barnard also found time to publish prolifically in his field, delve into the new discipline of daguerreotypy, and bring a state of the art astronomical observatory to the university, all while building an unmatched reputation for revelry that burned the abstemious Manly.
Still, even Manly could not argue against Bernard’s contribution to his university — and to the academic accomplishments of the region. After his groundbreaking work to improve the daguerreotype process and his tireless efforts to establish an observatory at The University of Alabama, Barnard moved on to Ole Miss, where he eventually became president of that university, and ushered in many of the same advancements he had developed in Alabama. Sadly, much of Bernard’s work in the areas of astronomy are all but lost to both universities, casualties of the Civil War and time.
Barnard, at the advent of the Civil War, left the South for good. In 1864, he was elected president of King’s College, now Columbia University, in New York. Then middle-aged, he began a distinguished second career. A champion of co-education, even in his days in the deep south, one of Bernard’s great living legacies is Barnard College in New York, named in his honor and now one of the four undergraduate schools affiliated with Columbia University.
Robert Mellown, a professor of art history at The University of Alabama and an authority on Alabama art and architecture, is a frequent contributor to Alabama Heritage. He is also editor of the magazine’s Art in the South column.
Dr. Gene Byrd has been a professor of astronomy at The University of Alabama since 1974. His research interests include theoretical studies of the dynamics of galaxies and the properties of groups and clusters of galaxies.
Alabama Heritage is a nonprofit quarterly magazine published by The University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To order the magazine, write Alabama Heritage, Box 870342, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0342, or call 205/348-7467.
Contact
Sara Martin or T.J. Beitelman, Alabama Heritage magazine, 205/348-7467