Robert Hare

Robert Hare was an early American chemist. He was born in Philadelphia in 1781. He was educated at home and tutored in chemistry by Dr James Woodhouse, founder of the Chemical Society of Philadelphia.  

When he was only 20 years old, he invented the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, which was a forerunner of the welding torch. Hare was the first person to fuse lime, magnesia, iridium and platinum, and, in 1816, invented the calorimotor, a type of battery from which heat is produced. This led to his invention of the deflagrator, which was employed in volatilizing and fusing carbon. 
 

Hare was awarded honorary MD degrees from Yale University in 1806 and from Harvard University in 1816. In 1818, he was appointed professor of chemistry and natural philosophy at William and Mary College and that same year was made professor of chemistry in the department of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained until his retirement in 1847.  

In 1839, he became the first recipient of the Academy's Rumford Prize. 

Hare wrote more than 150 papers for scientific publications. He also wrote on other subjects, including politics, economics, and philosophy, under the pen name Eldred Grayson.