GILMAN, DANIEL COIT (1831-1908), American edu cator, was born in Norwich, Conn., on July 6, 1831. After his graduation at Yale in 1852 he engaged in teaching and miscellane ous literary work, went to St. Petersburg with his life-long friend, Andrew D. White, as attache, and studied at Berlin On his return to America he was at Yale for 17 years as assistant librarian, professor of physical and political geography in the Sheffield scientific school, and as secretary of the governing board of that institution. All these positions as well as his general edu cational activities fitted him well for his important posts as head of the University of California (1872-75) and first president of Johns Hopkins university. He entered upon his duties in the latter insti tution in May 1875 and was formally inaugurated on Feb. 22, 1876. This post he filled until 19o1. From 1901 to 1904 he was the first president of the Carnegie institution at Washington, D.C. He died at Norwich, Conn., on Oct. 13, 1908, the recipient of many honourary degrees and other marks of scholastic distinction. His influence upon higher education in America was great, especially at Johns Hopkins. To the organization of the Johns Hopkins hos pital, of which he was made director in 1889, he contributed greatly. He was a singularly good judge of men and an able admin istrator, and under him Johns Hopkins had an immense influence, especially in the promotion of original and productive research. As a trustee of the John F. Slater Fund, of the Peabody Educational Fund and of the Russell Sage Foundation for Social Betterment ; as an original member of the General Education Board; and as successor to Carl Schurz as president of the National Civil Service Reform League, he further aided in educational and social better ment in the United States. In 1896-97 he served on the Venezuela Boundary Commission appointed by President Cleveland.
Some of his papers and addresses are collected in a volume entitled University Problems in the United States (1898). He wrote, besides, James Monroe (1883) , in the American Statesmen Series; a Life of James D. Dana, the geologist (1899) ; Science and Letters at Yale (1901) and The Launching of a University (1906) , an account of the early years of Johns Hopkins.
See Fabian Franklin, Life of Daniel Coit Gilman (1910) and John Thomas Faris, Men Who Conquered (Chicago, 1922).