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ADDRESS OF G. S. RUTHERFORD In presenting somc thoughts on the training of the chemist-elect, the background of my remarks will be the needs of the Western Electric Company. This organization, as most of you know, is the manufacturing unit of the Bell Telephone System, and its principal products are the subscribers' telephone which are in most of your homes and offices, the central office equipment and the interconnecting wire and cables with the associated loading and repeater equipment. As regards actual production thc Manufacturing Department is organized in two main branches reporting to thc Vice-President in charge of manufacturc; these are the Engineer of Manufacture and thc Works Organizations. It is the duty of the Engineer of Manufacture to describe and specify the thousands or items of raw material which enter into the product, to develop the methods, and design and make available for manufacture the equipment required for the great variety of processes employed in the manufacture of its product. This includes apparatus for testing and inspecting the raw materials, the parts in process, and the finished product. The raw materials and processes having been developed, the manufacturing equipment provided, and the details of manufacture worked out and formally specified by the Engineer of Manufacture, it is the duty of the Works Organization actually to manufacture the products for delivery to the customer. The organization of the Engineer of Manufacture comprises approximately 2500 engineers, machine and tool 'designers, and draftsmen, not including the clerical groups, many of whose people are technically trained. Of this number, approximately 1760 are a t the Hawthorne Plant a t Chicago and the balance a t the rapidly growing manufacturing units located a t Kearney, New Jersey, and Point Breeze, Baltimore. I have been interested recently in classifying the university graduates of this organization, who are located a t Hawthorne, according to their unhersity training and also according to the lines of work in which they are now engaged. This classification is shown on the attached chart. The striking point is that in about forty per cent of the cases these engineers are now engaged in a different line of work than that indicated by the course of study pursued a t the university. Before considering the qualifications which we desire in the chemists for our employ, let me first briefly outline the lines of work which are open in our plants to people of chemical training and which require a fnndamental appreciation of the laws of science for successful process development and engineering. There are some 18,000 raw material items entering into our manufacture. They include iron and steels for magnetic parts, tools, switchboard framework, and various structural parts of the apparatus; brass for a variety of blanked, formed, or drawn parts; nickel
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silver and phosphor bronze for spring materials; paper and textiles for insulation of cable conductors; gums, oils, solvents, and pigments for finishes; resins, waxes, and asphalts for insulating compounds; mica, tissue paper, and tinfoil for condensers; copper, lead, and antimony for cable conductors and sheathing; oils and greases for lubrication and corrosion protection; abrasives; adhesives, heavy chemicals, dyes, rubber, and many others. The investigation of the grades of material most suitable and most economical, the study of substitute materials from the standpoint of quality improvement and economy, and the actual manufacture of many of these products a t our own plant open a tremendous field. A list of the processes which go to make up this line of manufacture and which are of greatest interest from a chemical viewpoint includes the following: Copper wire manufacture including refining of scrap copper, rolling of the rod and actual drawing of the wire. Manufacture of sheet brass, nickel silver, and other non-ferrous alloys. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals casting including die-casting. Casting, rolling, and drawing of permalloy and other magnetic materials. Welding, soldering, hot tinning, and galvanizing. Heat treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Manufacture, use, and recovery of precious metal alloys. Application of protective finishes. Eledro-plating of zinc, copper, nickel, chromium, gold, and tin. Manufacture and application of lacquers, paints, japans, and varnishes. Phenol fiber manufacture and plastic resin molding. Hard rubber manufacture. The manufacture of carbon products, including granular carbon for transmitters, carhon filament resistances, and carbon blocks for protector apparatus. Flameproofing, dyeing, and waterproofing of textile materials; also spe6a.l purification processes for textiles used for insulation. Manufacture of insulating and sealing compounds. Wire enameling and special insulations for telephone conductors. Drying of telephone cable and other apparatus. Manufacture of special glasses, ceramic, and vitreous enameled parts. Manufacture of switchboard lamps. Recovery of scrap, lead, copper, paper, and solvents.
*
In most of these processes there is an important place for the chemist or chemical engineer. Also, it will be understood that the engineer who will be able to carry the greatest responsibility for any one of them is the one who, in addition to his chemical training, has the broadest foundation to enable him to undertake any or all of the engineering phases of the project. Referring again to the chart and considering the chemists and chemical engineers in one group as classified by training, you will notice that in approximately sixty per cent of the cases the present occupation is
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in fields of varying degrees of divergence from the university work, in many of which fields chemical knowledge does not seem to be of primary importance. It is also true that many jobs in which a knowledge of chemistry is important are under the direction of engineers whose university training was classified as mechanical or electrical. The reason is that when important new projects were to be engineered the work fell to the men available a t the time who had the best all-round qualifications, although some of these qualifications would not primarily be expected cousidering the university courses pursued. No doubt the development problems for which these men are now responsible are in most cases very far removed from the pictures they had of the work they would eventually be doing, and i t is equally likely that their present undertakings are a long way from the work their employer had immediately in mind when they were hired. All of this brings us to the main point which I wish to make; namely that the Western Electric Company generally prefers engineers with a sufficiently broad fundamental training to enable them to undertake a wide variety of problems. Usually the new employee is not of greatest interest because of his knowledge in any highly specialized field of engineering which he has undertaken while in the university, particularly if he has had only a four-year course. His formal education is either a point of departure or a t most only one step toward his goal. There are many things which we would desire from a man's university training, but unfortunately much of what is desirable must be sacrificed in the limited time available. First, I suppose we would like him to have an historical background which would help him to orient himself in the twentieth century; we would like him to appreciate the long fight of the race for intellectual freedom; we would like him to be helped to an open mind by a knowledge of the great battlefields of science with ignorance and superstition down through the ages; we would like him to appreciate the freedom of the present day, the fullness of his opportunities and his responsibility for measuring up to them. Since his mind is his principal tool, it is most important that he know as much as possible of the way i t works and that he be trained in its use. He should study psychology. He should gain a mastery of the fundamentals of science-mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, etc.and finally, in so far as he has time, we would like him to acquire an engineering training which will enable him to apply his scientific knowledge to the solution of the problems of industry This places the emphasis on the trained mind and on the fundamentals rather than on a highly specialized course because we realize that it is only possible to get a limited amount in a given time and because the student has a lifetime before him for increasing his knowledge and learning to apply it; also because in our
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industry, as has been pointed out, we need the flexible type of man. This does not mean, however, that we are out of sympathy with an endeavor to acquaint the student as well as may be with the working conditions and problems of industry a t the time he is pursuing his university education. We consider i t highly desirable that he have some actual contact with industry during his university course-certainly enough to get his hands dirty. For our purposes it seems sufficient that such knowledge be gained by summertime employment. This contact should help him to realize one very important point aside from his technical training; namely, the value of being able to properly present an engineering project, the importance of selling his work, if you will. It is not sufficient that the engineer do the technical part of the job. He should also be able actually to bring his undertaking to a conclusion-to cash in on it. He must be able to present his facts in a convincing manner before he can secure the necessary funds for his undertaking. Having carried through his investigation and translated it into an actual working process, there is somewhere a board of directors or an executive who will require a clean-cut statement of the results accomplished before they will be willing to appropriate funds for the next project. Further, there is usually a large number of other individuals and groups whose cooperation must be enlisted before he can see his engineering translated into a manufacturing plant and a going process. He must cultivate a forceful and pleasing personality and have the ability to fit into the large social group of varying functions, responsibilities and i n t ~ e s twhich s go to make up the modern industrial concern. I believe this point can scarcely be over-emphasized in these days of highly specialized and functionalized organizations. All of this, I suppose, simply says that we desire in the engineers who come to us from the universities, men of intelligence, imagination, and background, whose training has given them an open mind and the ability to think clearly; men who have spent their four or five or whatever number of years of university training in acquiring a fundamental knowledge of their science and of engineering; men who know and appreciate other men and whose methods of approach and agreeableness of manner will enlist the cooperation of other members of their engineering and business organization, whose services also are necessary to the success of the industry and of all who are engaged in it.
REMARKS OF W. J. MARSH* A great many things that I wanted to say, Dr. Langmuir has already said. This is no more than can be expected when we consider that the
* Mr. Marsh kindly consented at the lad minute to substitute for Dr. Webster N. Jones who was scheduled to take part in this symposium but was unable to attend.
