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He was born in Homer, New York on Nov. 7, 1832. He was educated at Yale University. At Yale he was a classmate of Daniel Coit Gilman, who would later serve as first president of Johns Hopkins University; the two were members of the Skull and Bones secret society, and would remain close friends. After his graduation from Yale in 1853, he spent three years studying in Europe before returning to the United States as a professor of history and English literature at the University of Michigan.
In 1865, White and Western Union tycoon Ezra Cornell founded Cornell University on Cornell's estate in Ithaca, New YorkFor census data on the two municipalities called "Ithaca" see Ithaca (city), New York and Ithaca (town), New York. The city of Ithaca (named for the Greek island of Ithaca in Homer's Odyssey) sits on the southern shores of Cayuga Lake, in upstate New York, with White as its first president. His farsighted leadership set the university on the path to becoming one of the world's elite educational institutions, with particular excellence in agriculturalFarming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). Agriculture is also known as farming . research and engineeringEngineering is the application of science to the needs of humanity. This is accomplished through knowledge, mathematics, and practical experience applied to the design of useful objects or processes. Professional practitioners of engineering are called en. After 14 years at Cornell, he resigned to serve as the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in' minister to GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east ( 1879Events January January 11 Anglo-Zulu War begins January 22 Zulu troops massacre British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting. February February 12 At New York C– 1881Events January 16- 24 ? Siege of Geok Tepe ? Russian troops under general Skobeleff defeat Turkomans January 25 Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company February 5 Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated. February 13 First issu) and RussiaThe Russian Federation ( Russian: , transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija , or Russia (Russian: , transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. With ( 1892– 1894), and as ambassador to Germany ( 1897– 1902).
While serving in Russia, White--a noted bibliophile--made the acquaintance of author Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's fascination with Mormonism sparked a similar interest in White, who, like most educated Americans at the time, had previously regarded the Latter-Day Saints as a dangerous, deviant cult. Upon his return to the United States, White took advantage of Cornell's proximity to the original Mormon heartland near Rochester to amass a collection of LDS memorabilia (including many original copies of the Book of Mormon) unmatched by any other institution save the church itself and its university, Brigham Young University.
As an author, White's best known works are A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom ( 1896) and Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason ( 1910).
White died in Ithaca on Nov. 4, 1918.