For the longest time I would often confuse Noah Webster with another promiment 19th century New Englander Daniel Webster, despite being well aware each Webster’s well-earned renoun. What I didn’t know was that Noah Webster studied at Yale. Of course, Rep. Webster is famously associated with Dartmouth for having represented his alma mater in Dartmouth College v. Woodward.

And not to be outdone, Harvard also has its own (ever so slightly less) famous Webster, Dr. John White Webster, professor of chemistry and geology, and an alumnus of the college. He murdered George Parkman, a leading Boston Brahmin, and hid the remaining parts in his laboratory, only to be exposed by the janitor. The trial, one of the earliest that took advantage of forensics (dental records), was a media spectable on the scale of O.J. Simpson. Webster was convicted and hanged, despite the protestations of the Boston elite who refused to give credence to the charges, and eventually PBS made a documentary about it all. [PBS]