FERNALD, Merritt Caldwell, educator, born in South Levant, Maine, 26 May 1838. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1861, and subsequently taught in Levant, Searsport, and Bethel, Maine Later he spent some time in the chemical laboratory at Harvard in the study of analytical chemistry and mineralogy, and also acted as assistant to Professor Josiah P. Cooke. In 1868 He became professor of mathematics and physics in the Maine state College of agriculture and the mechanical arts, and in 1879 became president of that institution, now known as the Maine state College. He was elected a member of the state board of agriculture in 1869, and has published in its reports papers on subjects connected with his special studies, besides meteorological and mathematical tables, and records of barometrical, geodesic, and astronomical works. President Fernald has been supervisor of schools, and received the degree of doctor of philosophy from Bowdoin in 1881.