Item 0015 - Letter, 17 May 1877

Charles Gilbert Wheeler was born on July 23, 1836, in London, Ontario.

He was a chemist, geologist, and educator. He graduated from Harvard University in 1858 and continued his studies at German universities. He served as assistant State Geologist of Missouri from 1859 to 1861. He was the U.S. Consul in Nuremberg from 1862 to 1867. In 1868, he became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Medical College. He invented the Babcock chemical fire extinguisher in 1869 and was the scientific expert for the Bell Telephone Company. He also served as State Commissioner at the Vienna Exposition in 1872 and was president of the Chicago College of Pharmacy in 1882. Reading eleven modern languages and speaking seven, he served as geologist and interpreter on the commission to examine the route for the Nicaraguan Canal in 1899. He later became Consul in Chicago for the Republic of Panama. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Pharmacists Association, and many other American and foreign scientific societies. He published several books on medical and organic chemistry.

In 1870, he married Sarah James Jenkins (1845–1902). He died on January 30, 1912, in Chicago, Illinois.