Colden, Cadwallader (1688-1776)

Irish-born American physician, scientist, and public official of Scottish parentage. He wrote pioneering works about the American Indians, botany, physics, medical subjects such as cancer and yellow fever, psychology, and mathematics. He held several posts with the British colonial government, including New York's lieutenant-governor 1761-75.

He studied at the University of Edinburgh and then studied medicine in London. He moved to Philadelphia in 1710. He engaged in business while practicing medicine, then in 1718 moved to New York City. During the US War of Independence he was a British loyalist; upon refusing to sign a request from certain colonists to repeal the Stamp Act (1765), he was burned in effigy. After the battle of Lexington, he effectively retired to his estate on Long Island.