Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), American educator and engineer, put the U.S. Military Academy on a secure footing and promoted civil engineering as a collegiate course and profession.

Sylvanus Thayer was born on June 9, 1785, in Braintree, Mass. He entered Dartmouth College in 1803 but left in 1807 to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1808, was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, and served in the War of 1812. In 1815 he was breveted a major and ordered to study European methods of educating military engineers so that he might help rescue West Point from incipient decay. The academy had a reputation for laxity in discipline and academic standards and suffered from uncertainty about whether to stress civilian or military studies.

After a year at the French École Polytechnique studying the curriculum and gathering a library, Thayer became superintendent at West Point in 1817. He accomplished sweeping reforms...