Our greatest scientist, called "The Father of the American chemical industry", Gibbs helped found the field of statistical mechanics, founded the field of physical chemistry, and (along with Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925)) developed the mathematics of vector algebra and analysis.

Among his accomplishments in physical chemistry and thermodynamics is the phase rule">, a formula for ascertaining the portion of a chemical distributed in the gaseous, liquid, and solid states.

He lived his career at Yale University, but once considered transferring to Cornell University because he was offered a salary there. But Yale kept him by starting to pay him a small salary.

You may read about Gibbs's life and accomplishments in the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by American poet, Muriel Rukeyers.