His father, Colonel George Gibbs, was an ardent mineralogist; the mineral gibbsite was named after him, and his collection was finally bought by Yale College.

His mother was a granddaughter of Founding Father Oliver Wolcott, who served as Governor of Connecticut and was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.

[3] Leaving the United States, Gibbs studied in Germany, considered a center of science, with Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg, Heinrich Rose, and Justus von Liebig, and in Paris with Auguste Laurent, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and Henri Victor Regnault.

Gibbs's research was mainly in analytical and inorganic chemistry, especially the cobalt-amines, platinum metals, and complex acids.

In 1862 he proposed to fellow Sanitary Commission Executive Committee member Frederick Law Olmsted that a patriotic club be formed in New York City and in January 1863 formally proposed the same to leading men in New York City, resulting in the formation of The Union League Club in February 1863.