Inventor, industrialist, entrepreneur, presidential candidate, philanthropist and visionary, Peter Cooper was one of the most brilliant and complex New Yorkers of the 19th century.  His contributions ranged from the design of America's first steam engine and the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable to the invention of instant gelatin, to which his wife Sarah added fruit and created the world's first Jell-O dessert.

Cooper was a laborer's son who achieved greatness despite a lack of formal education. He believed that education should be "as free as water and air" and so created the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, one of the first colleges to offer a free education to working-class children and to women.

To learn more about Peter Cooper and his legacy, go to "About Cooper Union > History" on the college's website.
  

Peter Cooper's Address, November 2, 1859

•   The Foundation Building