Olver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894

Holmes read law at Harvard, but decided on a medical career; study at Harvard and in Paris lead to a medical degree in 1836. He practiced for 10 years, taught anatomy for two years at Dartmouth College, and in 1847 became professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard. He later became dean of the Harvard Medical School and held that position until 1882.

His greatest fame came, however, from his humorous essays and comic verse. Holmes' first claim to national fame came from his "Old Ironsides" which roused public opinion against the destruction of the historic vessel. His essays entitled "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" in The Atlantic Monthly were collected and published in 1858. This was followed by The Professor at the Breakfast-Table in 1860 and The Poet at the Breakfast-Table in 1872.

His son Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. served as a Union officer in the Civil War, and became a lawyer and a justice of the United States Supreme Court.