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28-571: Two seniors at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College established the Torch Honor Society on March 8, 1916. However, the establishment of the group was kept secret until December 20, 1916. It was formed as an honor society to recognize the achievements and merit of undergraduate students. Its ideals were "enlightening leadership and beneficent service". The founders selected a charter class of ten men from

56-458: A railroad executive. The school was incorporated in 1871. The Sheffield Scientific School helped establish the model for the transition of U.S. higher education from a classical model to one which incorporated both the sciences and the liberal arts. Following World War I , however, its curriculum gradually became completely integrated with Yale College. " The Sheff " ceased to function as a separate entity in 1956. After technological developments in

84-597: A school of engineering. These programs made up the Yale Scientific School. In 1853 and 1854, science and engineering courses were listed in the Yale College course catalog as offered by the Yale Scientific School. Porter elicited help from his father-in-law, Joseph Earl Sheffield , and in 1858, Sheffield donated over US$ 100,000 to purchase the old Medical Department building for the scientific school. This gift included two newly-renovated wings within

112-461: A student-edited publication for science and engineering. The result was The Yale Scientific Magazine which first published on May 3, 1917. The society was incorporated in the State of Connecticut on January 21, 1922. In January 1950, Torch started a controversial campaign to reduce the emphasis on sports at Yale and other Ivy League schools. The society disbanded in the 1960s. Torch Honor Society

140-656: Is backed by a broad circle that represents comradeship and equality in mutual endeavors. On top of the torch is the Roman numeral X, representing the original ten members. The society's motto is "Simus Lux Obscuro in Mundo" or "Let us be Light in a Dark World". Historically, Torch selected or tapped a delegation of ten juniors each spring. Because it was an honor society, Torch could tap members of other societies or fraternities. The society occasionally selected Yale faculty or graduates for honorary membership. After its reformation In

168-916: The Morrill Act starting in 1863 and an agricultural course was begun. Land grant status, however, was transferred to the Storrs Agricultural School in 1893 after arguments by the state grange that the school was not a proper "farm school". A series of lectures, later known as the Sheffield Lectures was instituted by the school in 1866. Professor Othniel Charles Marsh of the school led four Yale scientific expeditions in search of fossils in 1870-3. The Sheffield School innovated with an undergraduate course offering science and mathematics as well as economics, English, geography, history, modern languages, philology and political science. Sheffield also pioneered graduate education in

196-838: The University of Giessen under Justus von Liebig . In 1850 he returned to the United States and became a professor at Brown University . He left in 1852 to take the place of the retiring Professor John Pitkin Norton at Sheffield Scientific School (then Yale Scientific School). He was the Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry from 1852 to 1856, and Professor of Organic Chemistry from 1856 to 1864. He remained at Yale until he had to resign for health reasons in 1864, two years before his death in New Haven. In 1872

224-549: The Yale Alumni Weekly ) who "took control out of President Hadley 's hands and forced a radical reorganization of Yale". In 1956, the Sheffield Scientific School was terminated as an active school. The Board of Trustees still exists to oversee the Sheffield Scientific School property and meet legal requirements. The school's faculty is defined as teachers of science to graduate students under

252-556: The 1990s, the society started selecting sixteen members for each delegation during "Tap Night" with the other secret societies. Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut , for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School , it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield ,

280-587: The Colony Club, 1848 (now Berzelius ), the Cloister, 1863 (now Book and Snake ), St. Anthony Hall , 1867 (now a 3-year society, also called Delta Psi), St. Elmo , 1889 (also a senior society), as well as Franklin Hall, 1865 ( Theta Xi ), York Hall, 1877 (Chi Phi), Sachem Hall, 1893 ( Phi Sigma Kappa ), and Vernon Hall, 1908 (now Myth and Sword ). The Yale Scientific Magazine was founded at Sheffield in 1894,

308-662: The Division of Science. Engineering teaching and research is now conducted within the School of Engineering & Applied Science . John Addison Porter John Addison Porter (March 15, 1822 – August 25, 1866) was an American professor of chemistry and physician . He is the namesake of the John Addison Porter Prize and was a founder of the Scroll and Key senior society of Yale University. Porter

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336-562: The Kingsley Trust endowed at Yale a prize in his honor to be given annually. In 1855 he married Josephine Earl Sheffield, daughter of Joseph E. Sheffield , whose name was to eventually adorn the school where he was professor for 12 years. One of their sons was another John Addison Porter , who became the first person to hold the title "Secretary to the President" , when he served in that capacity to William McKinley . Porter

364-707: The School of Applied Chemistry became part of a newly created Department of Philosophy and the Arts (later, the Yale Graduate School ). Classes and labs were hosted in the Second President's House on Yale's Old Campus until funding and a suitable facility could be found. Norton died in 1852 and was replaced by John Addison Porter . Applied chemistry was followed in 1852 by a professorship of civil engineering ( William Augustus Norton ) establishing

392-559: The Sheffield Scientific School resumed its original function of graduate level instruction in science. Undergraduate courses for the Bachelor of Science degree were transferred to Yale College, and undergraduate courses for a Bachelor of Science in industrial administration were transferred to the School of Engineering. This transition occurred gradually, through the influence of "aggressive, powerful alumni" (including Edwin Oviatt, editor of

420-563: The United States, granting the first Ph.D. in the United States in 1861 as well as the first engineering Ph.D. to Josiah Willard Gibbs in 1863, and the first geology Ph.D. to William North Rice in 1867. Unlike Yale College students at the time, Sheffield students had "no dorms, no required chapel, no disciplinary marks and no proctors". The Academical Department of Yale ( Ac ) and Sheffield ( Sheff ) became rivals. Loomis Havemeyer , alumnus and registrar at Sheffield, stated: "During

448-433: The building. The old Yale Medical School building on the northeast corner of Grove and Prospect Streets was renovated and renamed (South) Sheffield Hall. (It was demolished in 1931 and was on the current site of Sterling Tower, Sheffield Hall and Strathcona Hall (SSS).) Sheffield's building reinforced the division of Hillhouse Avenue into an upper, residential section, and a lower section devoted to education. In 1861,

476-706: The early nineteenth century, such as the electric telegraph , an interest was fostered in teaching applied science at universities. Harvard established the Lawrence Scientific School in 1846 and Dartmouth began the Chandler Scientific School in 1852. The stage was set at Yale for the transition in education beginning in 1846, when professorships of agricultural chemistry ( John Pitkin Norton ) and practical chemistry ( Benjamin Silliman Jr. ) were established. In 1847,

504-588: The first student magazine devoted to the sciences. In 1872–73, Sheffield Scientific School's first new building, North Sheffield Hall was built, designed by Josiah Cleaveland Cady , on what had been the gardens of the Town-Sheffield mansion. This was followed by Winchester Hall (1892) and Sheffield Chemical (1894-5, J. Cleaveland Cady). Of these, only the latter, Sheffield Chemical, is still standing, renovated and renamed Arthur K. Watson Hall. Becton Laboratory (designed by Marcel Breuer , 1970) now stands on

532-542: The junior class and two professors. These charter members were recruited based on both literary and athletic prominence. The group secured rooms in Strathcona Hall. The society continued to recruit or tap ten juniors each spring but eventually expanded its number to fifteen. Selection for membership in Torch became "one of the most important extracurricular campus honors". In 1915, society members began to advocate for

560-568: The school became the Sheffield Scientific School in recognition of his generosity devoted to "the promotion of the study of the natural, physical, and mathematical sciences." Sheffield was one of Yale's greatest benefactors and continued to support the school throughout his life, giving a total of about US$ 500,000. Yale also received US$ 591,000 from his will as well as his house, the Sheffield mansion, designed and originally owned by Ithiel Town (demolished in 1957). The school also benefited from

588-402: The second half of the nineteenth century Yale College and Sheffield Scientific School, separated by only a few streets, were two separate countries on the same planet." The Ac students studied liberal arts and would look down on the practical Sheff students. Sheffield had its own student secret societies (aka final clubs or senior societies, some also known by their Greek letters) including

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616-596: The site of North Sheffield and Winchester Halls (demolished in 1967). Further expansion brought Kirtland Hall (1902, Kirtland Cutter ), Hammond Laboratory (1904, W. Gedney Beatty), Leet Oliver Hall (1908, Charles C. Haight ), Mason Laboratory (1911, Charles C. Haight) and Dunham Laboratory (1912, Henry Morse; addition 1958, Douglas Orr), all still standing except Hammond which was razed in 2009 to make way for two new residential colleges. The Vanderbilt-Sheffield Dormitories and Towers were built by Charles C. Haight from 1903 to 1906, and Haight's chapter house St. Anthony Hall

644-599: Was born in Catskill , New York . Porter graduated from Yale College in 1842. At Yale, he, along with William Kingsley , publisher of The New Englander , and eleven others, founded the senior or secret society Scroll and Key and incorporated the Kingsley Trust Association in 1841. He and moved to Philadelphia for further study. In 1844 he became a professor at Delaware College and remained there until 1847 when he moved to Germany to study at

672-602: Was built in 1913. Byers Hall, designed by Hiss and Weekes and built in 1903, served as a center for social and religious life. These buildings are now incorporated into Silliman College , and St. Anthony Hall still owns its building, which completes the College and Wall Street corner of the Silliman College Quadrangle. In 2006-7, Silliman underwent a major renovation. Also, in 1913, land in East Lyme

700-474: Was celebrated in 1947 with the Silliman lectures given by Ernest O. Lawrence , Linus Pauling , W. M. Stanley and George Wells Beadle . The first degree of Bachelor of Science was awarded in 1922 to the graduating class of the Sheffield Scientific School. In 1932, the School of Engineering was reestablished and Sheffield Scientific School engineering classes were transferred to the new school. In 1945,

728-724: Was purchased for a field engineering camp (now the Yale Outdoor Education Center). During the 1918-1919 reorganization of the educational structure of Yale University, the three years "select" course at Sheffield Scientific School was eliminated and a four-year course of study for those studying "professional science" and "engineering" was approved, while graduate courses were transferred to the Graduate School, leaving only undergraduate courses taught at Sheffield Scientific School from 1919 to 1945, coexisting with Yale College's science programs. The centennial

756-681: Was reestablished as a secret society for seniors in 1995. Unlike most of Yale's secret societies, it is non-landed and does not own an off-campus building. The society met on the 4th floor of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall (SSS), across from Aurelian Honor Society , but was banned from this space for damaging university property in 2005. It now meets off campus in the Yale-China Association building on Temple Street. The society's badge consists of an uplifted torch, representing devotion to its ideals and its allegiance to Yale University's motto Lux et Veritas (Light and Truth). The torch

784-664: Was the first person to translate any part of the Finnish national epic Kalevala into English using the German translation by Franz Anton Schiefner (the same version used by John Martin Crawford for his complete 1888 translation). The John Addison Porter Prize, established in 1872, is a prize at Yale University awarded annually to the best work of scholarship in any field "where it is possible, through original effort, to gather and relate facts or principles, or both, and to present

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