# John Fries Frazer
**John Fries Frazer** (1812–1872), known as John F. Frazer, was an American chemist, physicist, University of Pennsylvania professor and vice-provost, and charter member of the National Academy of Sciences.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | July 8, 1812, Philadelphia[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) |
| Died | October 12, 1872, Philadelphia[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [4](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr91041774.html) |
| Education | A.B., University of Pennsylvania, 1830; A.M., 1833[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [5](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Frazer,_John_Fries) |
| Professorship | Natural philosophy and chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 1844–1872[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [6](https://history.aip.org/catalog/icos/5478.html) |
| University offices | Vice-provost, 1855–1868; acting provost, 1859–1860[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [4](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr91041774.html) |
| Editorship | *Journal of the Franklin Institute*, 1850–1866[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [6](https://history.aip.org/catalog/icos/5478.html) |
| Honors | Honorary Ph.D., University of Lewisburg, 1854; LL.D., Harvard, 1857[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) |
| National Academy of Sciences | Charter member, 1863; honorary member from 1869[2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) • [1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) |
## Early life and training
Frazer was born in Philadelphia on July 8, 1812, the son of Robert Frazer, a lawyer, and Elizabeth, daughter of John Fries.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) His grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel Persifor Frazer, was an officer in the Revolutionary War.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1830 and received an A.M. in 1833.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [5](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Frazer,_John_Fries)
As a student and after graduating, Frazer served as laboratory assistant to [Alexander Dallas Bache](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-dallas-bache),[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) and he also assisted the chemist Robert Hare.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) With Bache he helped make the first accurate American determination of the periods of the daily variation of the magnetic needle and helped link the aurora borealis to magnetic forces.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) In 1836 he became an assistant in the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania under Henry D. Rogers.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) He then studied law and was admitted to practice, but science drew him back.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) From 1836 to 1844 he taught at the High School of Philadelphia, now Central High School.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [5](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Frazer,_John_Fries)
## University of Pennsylvania
When Bache resigned in 1844, Frazer was chosen to succeed him as professor of natural philosophy and chemistry, a chair he held until his death.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) Appointed as the youngest member of the faculty, he ended as its senior professor.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) He was vice-provost from 1855 to 1868 and acting provost in 1859 and 1860.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [4](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr91041774.html)
His lectures were known for their enthusiasm and anecdotes.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) A student's notes of his lectures on sound, delivered to the senior class in the fall of 1847, survive in the University Archives.[7](https://digitalcollections.library.upenn.edu/items/b6beb92d-a89b-48d1-a34d-1776b6434574) Among his students was [Fairman Rogers](https://www.edgepedia.org/fairman-rogers), whom Frazer helped with his studies and introduced to his scientific acquaintances.[2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) Ill health sent him to Europe for four months in 1856 and for more than a year in the late 1860s; he resumed full teaching in the autumn of 1868.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf)
## Editor and society officer
Frazer lectured on physical and chemical science at the [Franklin Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/franklin-institute) and edited its *Journal* from 1850 to 1866, filling it with selections from American and European scientific journals.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [6](https://history.aip.org/catalog/icos/5478.html)
He was elected to the [American Philosophical Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-philosophical-society) in 1842, became its secretary in 1845, and became a vice-president in 1855.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [5](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Frazer,_John_Fries) He resigned at the end of 1858 amid disputes within the society and was re-elected in 1867.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) In October 1855 [Joseph Henry](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-henry), Secretary of the [Smithsonian Institution](https://www.edgepedia.org/smithsonian-institution), wrote to him about his review of Volume 7 of the *Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge*.[8](https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_13108) His papers for 1834 to 1871, held by the American Philosophical Society, consist mainly of correspondence with Bache, Louis Agassiz, Henry, and Titian Ramsay Peale.[6](https://history.aip.org/catalog/icos/5478.html)
## National Academy of Sciences
Frazer was one of the fifty charter members of the National Academy of Sciences, incorporated by Congress in 1863.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) At its organizing meeting in New York in April 1863, he sat on the committee of nine that drafted its constitution.[2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) In May 1864 he was appointed with Fairman Rogers and L. M. Rutherfurd to investigate the deadly boiler explosion aboard the Navy steamer *Chenango*; their August report blamed stays that were too few, badly arranged, and not built to specification.[2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) In 1869 he withdrew to the list of honorary members, saying he wished to make room for a more energetic investigator.[2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) • [1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf)
## Honors and personal life
The University of Lewisburg, now [Bucknell University](https://www.edgepedia.org/bucknell-university), gave him an honorary Ph.D. in 1854, and Harvard awarded him an LL.D. in 1857.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) During the Civil War he strongly supported the Union and was an early member of the Union League.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf)
In 1838 he married Charlotte Jeffers Cave, daughter of Thomas Cave.[3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) • [4](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr91041774.html) They had two daughters and a son, Persifor, who was later appointed to Penn's chemistry chair when his father's post was divided.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) Frazer kept a scientific library of about 2,500 volumes, and one evening each week his house was open to scientists, including visitors to Philadelphia.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588)
## Death and legacy
Frazer died suddenly on October 12, 1872, in his laboratory in the university's new [West Philadelphia](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-philadelphia) building, the day after its inauguration, after exhausting himself moving his apparatus and library into it; his heart failed without warning.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf) • [2](https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588) • [3](https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf) John L. Le Conte's memoir of him was read before the American Philosophical Society on April 4, 1873, and before the National Academy of Sciences on October 22, 1873.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf)
## References
1. Memoir of John Fries Frazer, 1812–1872, by John L. Le Conte (National Academy of Sciences). https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/frazer-john.pdf
2. A History of the First Half-Century of the National Academy of Sciences, 1863–1913. https://archive.org/details/cu31924012175588
3. Guide, Frazer Family Papers (UPT 50 F848), University of Pennsylvania Archives. https://archives.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/upt50f848.pdf
4. Frazer, John Fries, 1812–1872 (Library of Congress Name Authority File). https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr91041774.html
5. Frazer, John Fries (The New International Encyclopædia, 1906). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Frazer,_John_Fries
6. John Fries Frazer papers, 1834–1871 (AIP International Catalog of Sources). https://history.aip.org/catalog/icos/5478.html
7. John Fries Frazer's lectures on sound, notes by Edward Goodfellow, A.B. 1848 (Penn Libraries). https://digitalcollections.library.upenn.edu/items/b6beb92d-a89b-48d1-a34d-1776b6434574
8. Joseph Henry's Letter to John F. Frazer (October 27, 1855) (Smithsonian Institution Archives). https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_13108
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license