born Dec. 10, 1787, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.
died Sept. 10, 1851, Hartford, Conn.
U.S. philanthropist and founder of the first American school for the deaf.
He graduated from Yale College and later studied in England and France, where he learned the sign method of communication. In 1816 he established the school for the deaf in Hartford, Conn.; for more than 50 years it would remain the main American training centre for instructors of the deaf. Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is named in his honour.