ABSTRACT
COOLEY M.E. 28.03. 1855 Canandaigua NY/USA 25.08. 1944 Ann Arbor MI/USA Mortimer Elwyn Cooley graduated in 1878 from the US Naval Academy, Annapolis MD. He completed in 1879-1880 his sea duty on the North Atlantic with the USS Alliance, and was then assigned to the Bureau of Steam Engineering at Navy Department. He was in 1881 promoted to assistant engineer, assigned to University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, teaching steam engineering and iron shipbuilding, and taking there over as professor of mechanical engineering, thereby resigning his commission with the Navy. In addition to university work, he was a consultant in mechanical engineering. He was from 1895 to 1911 chief engineer and officer of Michigan Naval Brigade. He was in 1898 also chief engineer of the US Navy during the Spanish-American War, attached to USS Yosemite. Cooley was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASME, of which he was vice-president in 1902, of the US Naval Institute, the US Society of Naval Engineers, and Honorary Member ASCE. The Regents of his university conferred upon him in 1885 the honorary degree of mechanical engineer. He also received the LLD degree from the Michigan Agricultural College in 1907. Cooley would be currently considered a general engineer, given his widespread interests in engineering. He was for instance involved in the assessment of hydro-electric power plants around 1900, or in railways projects. In parallel his role as the Grand Old Man of the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan was outstanding. He built the College from a rough temporary shop of only some 160 m2 to three largely equipped buildings of a total of some 50,000 m2 to hundreds of courses taught by some 160 professors. The original enrollment was below 30, and gradually increased to 1800. He became Dean in 1904, and retired in 1928. Through his long years of service, he was a representative of the whole University. Cooley, M.E. (1891). Reports on the new Gaskill pumping engine, Kalamazoo MI. Ann Arbor. Cooley, M.E. (1898). Notes on dynamics of machinery. Edwards: Ann Arbor. Cooley, M.E. (1899). Notes on water wheels: Water power. Ann Arbor. Cooley, M.E., Mencken, H.L. (1923). Dynamics of reciprocating engines. Wahr: Ann Arbor. Hinsdale, B.A., Demmon, I.N. (1906). Mortimer E. Cooley. History of the University of Michigan: 263-264. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor. P Sutin, H.A. (1935). Mortimer E. Cooley. The Michigan Technic (3): 103-105.
