Amos Eaton (17 May 1776 – 10 May 1842) was an American
botanist,
geologist, and
educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tradition of
classics,
religious classes,
lecture, and
recitation. Eaton co-founded the
Rensselaer School in 1824 with
Stephen van Rensselaer III "in the application of science to the common purposes of life". His books in the eighteenth century were among the first published for which a systematic treatment of the
United States was attempted, and in a language that all could read. His teaching laboratory for botany in the 1820s was the first of its kind in the country. Eaton's popular lectures and writings inspired numerous thinkers, in particular women, whom he encouraged to attend his public talks on experimental philosophy.
Emma Willard would found the
Troy Female Seminary (Emma Willard School), and
Mary Mason Lyon, the
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Mount Holyoke College). Eaton held the rank of senior professor at Rensselaer until his death in 1842.