Robert Ogden Doremus (11 January 1824 – 22 March 1906) was a United States chemist and physician. Biography Doremus was the son of philanthropist Sarah Platt Doremus and her merchant husband Thomas. He studied at Columbia, and graduated from New York University in 1842. Here he came under the influence of John W. Draper, and in 1843 became his assistant in the medical department of the University. This office he held for seven years, and aided Draper in many of his famous researches on light and heat. In 1847 Doremus went to Europe, continuing his chemical studies in Paris with special reference to electrometallurgy, also visiting the establishments where chemical products were manufactured. On his return to New York, in 1848, he established with Charles T. Harris a laboratory on Broadway for the purpose of giving instruction in analytical chemistry, and for making commercial analyses. He was elected professor of chemistry in the New York College of Pharmacy in 1849, and delivered the first lectures in his own laboratory. Meanwhile, he studied medicine with Abraham S. Cox, and received his degree from the medical department of the University in 1850. He was one of the founders of the New York Medical College in 1850, and at his own expense arranged and equipped the first laboratory in the United States for instructing medical students in analytical chemistry, requiring all the candidates for graduation to pass this examination. In 1851 he was elected professor of natural history in the Free Academy of the City of New York (later renamed the City College of New York) where he remained as a professor until 1902. In 1859 he was associated with others in establishing the Long Island College Hospital, where he lectured for several years. He was appointed professor of chemistry and toxicology in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, in 1861. A year later he went to Paris, where he spent two years in developing the use of compressed granulated gunpowder in firearms. The cartridges patented by him require no serge envelopes as are ordinarily used in muzzle loading cannon, and hence no sponging of the gun after firing is necessary. Doremus was authorized by the French minister of war to modify the machinery in the Bouchet pouderie so that gunpowder of the American character could be produced. Subsequently, an exhibition of the firing of compressed granulated powder in cannon and small arms