J. Lawrence Smith

John Lawrence Smith (December 17, 1818 – October 12, 1883) was an American chemist and mineralogist. He published extensively on analytical chemistry and mineralogy, including Mineralogy and Chemistry, Original Researches (1873; enlarged with biographical sketches, 1884). His collection of meteorites was the finest in the United States, and upon his death, he passed it to Harvard. The J. Lawrence Smith Medal is named in his honor. Education J. Lawrence Smith was reportedly born either near Charleston, South Carolina, or in Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at the University of Virginia, he entered the Medical College of South Carolina, receiving a medical degree in 1840. His graduation thesis was an essay on the "Compound Nature of Nitrogen." He then went to Europe to continue his studies. In Paris he studied widely, taking classes in chemistry, toxicology, physics, mineralogy and geology. His teachers there included Théophile-Jules Pelouze. After meeting Justus von Liebig in Giessen, Germany, he spent his summers studying in Giessen and his winters studying in Paris.