June, 1930
I.YDLTSTRIAL A S D ESGISEERISG CHEMISTRY
681
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Samuel Avery
S
AMUEL AVERY, who retired three years ago as chancellor of the University of Nebraska, is another scientist who, after serving as an executive for many years in a notable way, has returned to his first love. Visitors a t the university will find on the third floor of Chemistry Hall a quiet, unassuming gentleman busily a t work in his laboratory, usually in his shirt sleeves, any time between the hours of 8 A . M. and 5 P. M. Doctor Avery is chancellor emeritus of the University of Nebraska and professor of research in chemistry. He has little interest in the former title, but he chooses to make’the latter something more than an empty name. When Doctor Avery came back to the chemical laboratory in the fall of 1927 after serving the University of Nebraska as its chancellor for nearly twenty years, he resumed work in synthetic organic chemistry almost where he had left it in the fall of 1908; it was as if he simply had returned to the laboratory after a short vacation. In no time a t all steam baths were bubbling, filter pumps were pumping, distilling apparatus was distilling, and Doctor Avery was making new compounds. His work is in the field of substituted glutaric acids. Aside from the making of a large number of Samuel new compounds, Doctor A v e r y h a s cleared up a number of puzzling cases of isomerism in this interesting series. Doctor Avery has a hobby which affords him much pleasure and the Department of Chemistry considerable profit; it is the making and repairing of apparatus. He has designed a goodly number of new pieces. One is a new melting-point apparatus. Another is a metal tube for use in combustion analysis. His metal combustion tube has undergone a considerable development in the past two years and is now in daily use in the laboratory. I t is very popular with the students in the course in combustion analysis which Doctor Avery is teaching, since it saves them many a dollar which otherwise would be spent for Pyrex tubing. I n order to overcome the difficulty due to the burning of the rubber stoppers by the hot metal tube he has designed tubes with water-cooled, jacketed ends and also tubes with air-cooled ends. When Doctor Avery runs out of ideas for making new apparatus he repairs old pieces. Many a balance, combustion furnace, electric motor, and the like have been brought back into use by him. His latest interest is in microanalysis and he is drsigning special apparatus for this work. In short, Doctor Avery is doing just what he wants to do and is having the time of his life doing it. The writer was a student of Doctor Avery’s during the years 1905 to 1908. He recalls most vividly the first meeting in the old chemistry building just after Doctor Avery’s appointment t o the headship of the Chemistry Department in the summer of 1905. He told of his plans and spoke particularly of his interest in and his plans for developing research. That fall for the first time, courses in advanced organic chemistry leading to research were offered and a small group of advanced students
entered upon their work with new enthusiasm. Doctor Avery had had teaching experience in the university and had served also as chemist of the Experiment Station before his appointment to the headship of the department. During this time a number of important papers on synthetic organic chemistry and several dealing with agricultural subjects were the product of his
ment made famous by Bunsen and Victor Meyer a t Heidelberg, Doctor Avery believed that chemistry is best taught and learned in the laboratory. Many a student has received his introduction to research while serving as a laboratory assistant to Doctor Avery. He made it a practice to give the beginners in research the benefit of personal instruction in this way. Doctor Avery’s career as a teacher
Avery
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president of Massachusetts Agricultural College; Howard Parmelee, editor of
Medical College; Hal Beans and J. M. Nelson, professors in Columbia University; Benton Dales and M. J. Brown, now in industrial work-these are only a few names which could be mentioned of men who received all or part of their chemical training under Doctor Avery. Under Doctor Avery’s guiding hand the Department of Chemistry prospered both in a material and a scientific sense, so that it was no surprise to his friends when he was chosen chancellor of the University of Nebraska, joining the ranks of other chemists like Remsen, Smith, Talbot, Elliott, and Noyes who have given up scientific work to become university executives. The members of the Department of Chemistry a t Nebraska are happy to count Doctor Avery as their friend. They are proud of his achievements in chemical research. They wish him the best of health and many years of work as professor of research in chemistry. FREDW. UPSON
Maizolith Made from Cornstalks A new material, maizolith, has recently been made from cornstalks and corncobs by the Bureau of Standards and Iowa State College in their experimental plant a t Ames. It has properties which may make it of value in various industries. It ranges in color from tan t o a deep ebony, machines readily, and may be given a high polish. Tests on maizolith show that it has a volume resistivity of 3,000,000,000 ohms per cubic centimeter, a tensile strength of about 7000 pounds per square inch, and-a compressive strength of about 1’7,000pounds per square inch.
