Hiero Benjamin Herr, Class of 1866

Born:    November 12, 1842, Lancaster County, PA.

Died:    September 3, 1920, Dillsburg, PA, age 77.

• Attended "State Normal" in Pennsylvania.
• Cadet at West Point, July 1, 1862 to June 18, 1866.
• Graduated 15th in a class of 39.
• Assistant Professor of Mathematics, USMA, August 31, 1867 to August 28, 1869.
• On leave of absence, August 28, 1869 to May 15, 1870 when he resigned from the Army.
• Professor of Engineering, Mathematics, and Astronomy, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 1870-1878, replacing Edwin Wright Morgan.
• Civil Engineer in the service of the United States, 1878-1883.
• In charge of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of California, 1883-1884.
• Contractor for Construction of Public Works, Chicago IL, 1884-

His obituary, AR-1921, says that his classmate Professor Soule wanted a leave of absence at the University of California at Berkeley and induced Herr to take the Chair of Mathematics at Berkeley. It also notes that he was "an admirable instructor in the section room, as Professor Church had already declared."

"Herr was steady and studious; mathematics attracted him but French repelled." [AR-1921]

Genealogy:

• His mother was Mary Emma Witmer, a lineal descendant of Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
• His only son died at the age of 30. One daughter survived at that time; she married William S. Russell.

Obituaries:

AR-1921. Have copy.

References:

1. Zitarelli, David E., "Straddling centuries: The struggles of a mathematician and his university to enter the ranks of research mathematics, 1870 - 1950," Historia Mathematica, vol. 34, no. 3, August 2007, pp. 271-288.