Denoyer-Geppert Science Company is the source for human anatomy, biology, and chemistry teaching tools for health and science education. Made in the USA
USA Manufacturer of Anatomical Models for education right in Skokie, IL. Visit our website at www.denoyer.com or order via our amazon store - copy link www.amazon.com/shops/DGScience
12/03/2023
Mary Fairfax Somerville was a world-renowned mathematician, geographer, science writer and theoretical astronomer. The inventor/astronomer/mathematician Sir David Brewster called her “certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe.” She is also responsible for the coining of a word.
In 1834 the British intellectual William Whewell ran into a problem when writing a review of one of Somerville’s books. At that time practitioners of science were called “men of science.” Because he couldn’t very well refer to Mary Somerville as a “man of science” he needed another term. So, he invented one: “scientist.”
In one sense, therefore, we might say that Mary Somerville was the world’s first scientist.
Mary Fairfax Somerville died on November 29, 1872, one hundred fifty-one years ago today.
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Denoyer-Geppert Science Co. is an Illinois-based manufacturer of scientific models, charts, and simulators, which are produced primarily as teaching tools for health and science education with a focus on human anatomy, biology, and chemistry. Visit our website at www.denoyer.com or order via our amazon store - www.amazon.com/shops/DGScience
The Denoyer-Geppert Company was founded in 1916 by L. Philip Denoyer and Otto E. Geppert. Mr. Denoyer, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, was a teacher, principal, and professor of geography before founding his company. Mr. Geppert was a salesman who had been working for W & AK Johnston, mapmakers out of Chicago. In 1913, Geppert found Denoyer teaching in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and convinced him to leave and become an adviser for A. J. Nystrom & Co. in Chicago. In 1916 after both had careers working for Chicago mapmakers, they formed their own mapmaking business under their own names, with Denoyer as President and Geppert as Sales Manager and Secretary/Treasurer. Mr. Denoyer died in 1964 at the age of 88, but had retired from the company in 1947. Although he was retired and spent the remainder of his life on his farm in Illinois, he continued on as a consulting editor until his death. Mr. Geppert became president of the company upon Denoyer’s death, becoming Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1968. He would pass away in 1970 at the age of 80.
In its early years, the firm promoted itself as a manufacturer and supplier of "visual demonstration equipment for geographical maps and globes and the biological sciences." In fact, the Denoyer-Geppert "Cartograph" Globe is what made the name famous because they were featured in photographs with the Apollo astronauts throughout the 1960s.
By the 1980s Denoyer-Geppert was a division of a large educational publishing conglomerate that went bankrupt. The company shifted its focus to manufacturing scientific charts and models exclusively after being purchased and later resold by Rand McNally in 1985. The science education products became what is known today as Denoyer-Geppert Science Company.
Since the 1990's, the company has acquired additional science education assets in the chemistry and kinesiology disciplines and has partnered with many science educators to develop innovative learning tools.
