Josiah Willard Gibbs

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Personal Life

Early Life

Josiah Willard Gibbs was born to Josiah Gibbs Sr and Mary Anna Van Cleve on February 11, 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut. As a child he lived a relatively privileged life with his four older sisters. Education was encouraged in his family as not only was his father a professor at Yale, but also had one relative who held a position as president of Harvard and another relative who was the first president of Princeton. His classmates at The Hopkins School, a small private school in New Haven, often described him as quiet and "intellectually absorbed." His fragile health likely contributed to his introverted demeanor as it prevented him from interacting with his peers.