Robert Maskell Patterson
Robert Maskell Patterson (March 23, 1787 – September 5, 1854) was an American professor and the sixth director of the United States Mint. He was born in Philadelphia, one of eight children of Robert Patterson and Amy Hunter Ewing.
Patterson studied at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1804 and a medical degree in 1808. He also studied in Paris with leading scientists and in England with Humphry Davy. He returned to the United States in 1812 and became a professor of natural philosophy, chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, later serving as vice provost in 1814. In 1828 he moved to the University of Virginia, where he taught natural philosophy and chaired the faculty from 1830 to 1832. He was elected Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1834.
In 1835 Patterson was nominated by President Andrew Jackson to be director of the U.S. Mint, a post he held until 1851. He was also deeply involved with scholarly societies, serving as secretary (1813), vice-president (1825) and president (1849) of the American Philosophical Society, and becoming its youngest member when elected in 1809 at age 22.
Patterson contributed to various scientific and civic projects, including advising on the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1807 and helping Pennsylvania choose a water source for a state canal in 1826. He was active in the Franklin Institute, the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind.
He married Helen Hamilton Leiper (daughter of Thomas Leiper) on April 20, 1814, and they had six children. He died in Philadelphia on September 5, 1854, and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:34 (CET).