Artist, musician, teacher, inventor and founder of Scientific American magazine, Rufus Porter, thought well ahead of his time. Porter (1792-1884) began his artistic life as a painter of portraits. Later he painted the murals that have made him famous. He painted what he knew — landscapes depicting the farms around Bridgton, Maine, his childhood home, and seaport scenes of Portland, Maine, where he lived and studied as a young man.

Porter patented inventions that were useful in the home (a churn and cheese press) and out (a life preserver). The patent for his revolving rifle cylinder, sold to Samuel Colt, revolutionized the munitions industry. He designed and promoted airships that would fly people across the continent, although they were never built. He founded the Scientific American magazine in 1845, to encourage innovation in American arts and sciences.


Men of thought! Be up and stirring
Night and day;
Sow the seed-withdraw the curtain,
Clear the way!
Men of action, aid and cheer them,
As ye may.
There’s a fount about to stream,
There’s a light about to beam,
There’s a warmth about to glow,
There’s a flower about to blow;
There’s a midnight blackness changing
Into gray
Men of thought, and men of action,
Clear the way!

Once the welcome light has broken,
Who shall say,
What the unimagined glories
Of the day;
What the evil that shall perish
In its ray!
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen;
Aid it, hopes of hones men;
Aid it, paper-aid it type-
Aid it, for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken
Into play.
Men of thought, and men of action!
Clear the way!


Rufus Porter
April 9, 1849