Charles Robert Sanger

Charles Robert Sanger (1860–1912) was a chemist and professor at Harvard University whose research centered on detecting and curing the causes of illness caused by chemicals in the home.

Early life Sanger was born on August 31, 1860, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of George Partridge Sanger (1819–1890) and Elizabeth Sherburne (Thompson) (1819–1897). His father, a Harvard graduate, was a lawyer, editor, judge, first president of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company and United States attorney for Massachusetts between 1873 and 1886. Sanger's mother was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His great-grandfather, Thomas Thompson, was a U.S. naval captain who was the first to engage in a maritime battle during the Revolutionary War. The family moved to Cambridge, where Charles attended Cambridge High School before beginning at Harvard in 1877.

Charles Robert Sanger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881 and his first Master of Arts degree in 1882. He studied for a year at universities in Munich and Bonn under organic chemist Richard Anchütz. He returned to Harvard to receive a second master of arts and a doctorate in philosophy. After obtaining his Ph.D., Sanger became an assistant in the Harvard chemistry department, working with Henry B. Hill, who "was his Chemical father."

Naval Academy

In 1886, Sanger was appointed as a chemistry professor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He married Almira (Myra) Starkweather Horswell (1857–1905) the same year. The Sangers had two children while living in Annapolis, Mary in 1888 and Eleanor Sherburne in 1891. Sanger left Annapolis in 1892 to become Eliot Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition he was professor of chemistry at the St. Louis Medical College and the Missouri Dental College, the medical and dental departments of Washington University. A son, Richard Sanger, was born there in 1894.

Harvard Sanger returned to Harvard in 1899 as an assistant professor in charge of the large Chemistry 3 course developed by H.B. Hill, who by this time was ailing, and was made full professor and director of the chemistry laboratory when Hill died in 1903. In its obituary, the Boston Globe said, "The death of Professor Sanger takes from the Harvard faculty one of its most distinguished scholars and teachers."

Sanger died at home in Cambridge on February 25, 1912. He is buried in the family plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Publications

Chemical Papers of C. R. Sanger: "Ueber substituirte Brenzschleimsäuren.'''' With Henry B. Hill. Ann Chem. Pharm 232, 43 (1885) "The Quantitative Determination of Arsenic by the Berzelius-Marsh Process, especially as applied to the analysis of Wall Papers and Fabrics." Proc. American Aca., 26, 24 (1891). "The Chemical Analysis of three Guns at the U.S Naval Academy captured in Corea," by Rear Admiral John Rodgers, U.S.N. Proc. U. S. Naval Institute, 19, 53, (1892). "On the formation of volatile Compounds of Arsenic from Arsenical Wallpapers." Proc. Amer. Academy 29, (1894) "On Chronic Arsenical Poisoning from Wall Papers and Fabrics," Proc Amer Academy 29, 148 (1894) Laboratory Experiments in General Chemistry, St. Louis, Published by the author, St. Louis, (1896). A Short Course of Experiments in General Chemistry, with notes on Qualitative Analysis.'' Published by the author, St. Louis, (1896).