De Volson Wood

De Volson Wood was American civil engineer and educator. He invented a steam rock drill and an air compressor and designed an ore dock. Wood was professor, an author of multiple monographs on mathematics and engineering, vicepresident of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the first president of the American Society for Engineering Education.

De Volson Wood, son of Julius and Amanda Wood, was born near Smyrna, New York. His studied in a public school, with an additional six weeks in a private academy and two terms in Cazenovia Seminary. In 1849 he began teaching, with which he was occupied until his death, his subsequent education being received while he was himself instructing. He started at Smyrna where he taught for three terms. Desiring to continue his education, he then went to the Albany State Normal School and graduated in 1853. He then obtained his first position as principal, in the Napanoch School, Ulster County, New York. Returning to the closing exercises of the Albany Normal School during a week of vacation, Wood accepted an offer of assistant professorship in mathematics.

Source: Wikipedia