Dr. William LeRoy Broun

 

This information acquired from the book Dr. William LeRoy Broun by Thomas L. Broun, 1912.

William LeRoy Broun was born in Loudoun County, Virginia in 1827 and died in Auburn, Alabama, January 23, 1902.  He was educated in private schools and at the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 1850.  He taught for a year in a private school in Virginia, for two years (1852-54) in a small college in Mississippi, and for two years (1854-56) as professor of mathematics in the University of Georgia.  He then taught in a private school until the outbreak of the War of Secession.  He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Ordnance Department of the Confederate army.  Colonel Broun made many inventions while in the Ordnance Department.  At the close of the war he was elected professor of natural philosophy of the University of Georgia, and from 1872-75 was president of the Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical College, a branch of the University.  He was professor of mathematics in the University of Texas, 1883-84, and president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (A. and M. College, now Auburn University) 1882-83, and from 1884 to his death in 1902.   It was the last named institution that the great work of Dr. Broun was performed.   He was a good executive and a practical educator, and under his supervision the Alabama Polytechnic Institute became a pioneer and a model for all Southern technical schools.

General George E. Pickett and Dr. William LeRoy Broun were descendants of William Pickett, whose will, dated September 26, 1766, was recorded in the clerk's office of Fauquier County, Virginia, November 24, 1766.  To see Broun projectiles click here.