Benjamin Peirce was one of the principal contributors to nineteenth-century American science. He gained international prominence from his work on the perturbations of Neptune, and his Linear Associative Algebra was the first important mathematical research done by an American. He was a key figure in the professionalization of American science; and, as superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, he was an effective scientific administrator. Peirce also played an important role in the education of many American scientists, including Simon Newcomb, the most widely honored and recognized American scientist of the generation after Peirce, and Peirce's son. Charles Saunders. Peirce belonged to an impressive family of American intellectuals. The intellectual tradition in the family is apparent with Peirce's feminist mother, and his scholarly father, who wrote a history of Harvard College. The tradition finds its climax in Peirce's son, Charles, perhaps the most exceptional mind the United States has yet produced.