Dayton Section Honors Patterson A STAFF REPORT 1 H E first presentation of a new award to be made biennially t o outstanding workers in t h e field of chemical literature was made in D a y t o n on May 14 to Austin M. Patterson, whose name the award will bear in future years. The honor is sponsored b y the D a y t o n Section of the
AMERICAN C H E M I C A L SOCIETY, and
has
been endowed by a fund created by subscription from chemists and chemical industries in the Dayton-Columbus areaN a m e d the Austin M . Patterson Award as an additional tribute to the initial recipient, it consists of a hand-illuminated scroll enumerating t h e accomplishments recognized by the award. Dr. Patterson was also presented with a bound volume containing more than 200 letters from friends, colleagues, and students throughout the world, expressing congratulations and testifying to t h e value of the medalist's contributions t o the advance of chemical science. Speakers on the presentation program uescriueu SALES scholarly, temperate, an indefatigable worker, and a skilled organizer. Best known for his German-English and French-English chemical dictionaries, h e has also written several works on specific chemical definitions and has served a s chemical editor of t h e Merriam-Webster Dictionary for 45 years. An early editor of Chemical Abstracts, h e has been a c tively associated with that journal since 1908, contributing particularly to t h e systematic indexing of organic compounds. T h e monumental "Ring Index" prepared in conjunction with Leonard T . Capell was t h e ultimate b u t indirect e n d of his indexing activities. I n recent years he has been much interested in the D y son cipher for indicating the structure of organic compounds and has suggested m a n y changes which have been adopted b y the inventor of the system. During t h e past 20 years the medalist has served
on almost every i m p o r t a n t American a n d international committee o n chemical n o m e n c l a t u r e a n d still participates in t h e work of m a n y such committees t h r o u g h out the world. Dr. Patterson has also had a distinguished career a s a creative educator. He j o i n e d t h e faculty of Antioch College in 1921, virtually at the inception of that institution's experimental p r o gram in collegiate education a n d h a s been an active p a r t i c i p a n t i n t h a t p r o gram. H i s experience a s professor of chemistry a n d eventually vice president of t h e college qualified him as an a u t h o r ity o n functional education a n d resulted in his call t o W a s h i n g t o n in 1941 t o serve as principal specialist in chemical education for the establishment a n d a d ministration of t h e Engineering, Science, and M a n a g e m e n t W a r T r a i n i n g P r o gram (ESMAVT) of the United States Office of Education. H i s l o y a l t y to h i s h o m e town of Xenia, Ohio, is attested by a long list of civic organizations in which h e h a s b e e n a c tive. F o r a while h e even owned a n d edited a local n e w s p a p e r i n order t o campaign against conditions h e considered inimical to t h e interests of t h e community. I n accepting t h e a w a r d Dr. P a t t e r s o n reviewed the development of the American chemical literature during t h e p a s t 50 years and the developments in. chemical nomenclature in t h a t same period. He particularly emphasized t h e increased organization and universality of chemical nomenclature achieved through t h e functioning of n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l committees of e m i n e n t chemical a u t h o r i ties. A s recently as 25 y e a r s ago editors of scientific journals often had to r e l y on intuition in deciding which of several synonymous terms t o endorse b y use i n their publications, said P a t t e r s o n . T h e chemical industry was commended for
its c u r r e n t consistent use of correct t e r minology in its literature in contrast to the earlier practice of hit-or-miss n a m ing of new commercial c o m p o u n d s , which resulted in w h a t he called "weird c h e m i cal n a m e s . " I n speaking of the need for increased concentrated work in t h e various aspects of chemical literature, t h e m e d a l i s t pointed out that the total b o d y of t h e literature is not only increasing tremendously every year b u t t h a t the rate of t h e increase is also following a steep u p w a r d curve. T h e financial b u r den of publishing this increasing mass of d a t a t h r e a t e n s to overtax t h e resources of t h e organizations traditionally committed t o a program of dissemination of scientific information, and the speaker suggested t h a t the laboratories c o n d u c t ing research programs m u s t ultimately expect t o share this b u r d e n . P a t t e r s o n also cited the increasing difficulty of indexing a n d searching this mass of information. H e predicted increased practice of microfilming a n d micropublishing and greater use of mechanical aids similar to t h e p u n c h e d card s y s t e m s . A. p h o t o e l e c t r i c a l ^ sorted microfilm system a n d magnetic wire recording were mentioned as possible future d e v e l o p m e n t s in this field. H o w e v e r , t h e s e systems are expensive a n d sometimes impractical for small, h i g h l y specialized collections; and Dr. P a t t e r s o n predicted t h a t t h e ultim a t e solution will b e the establishment of comprehensive, centralized, mechanized collections at t h e larger chemical companies and at public information services such as the American I n s t i t u t e of D o c u m e n t a t i o n , where it will be p o s sible t o make complete literature searches quickly a n d at m o d e r a t e rost. A series of five review papers was· presented during t h e afternoon by m e m b e r s of the D a y t o n Section.
The hand-engraved scroll was presented to Dr» Patterson by / . F. Cor win of Antioch College, chairman of the Dayton Section, Right, A. O. Snoddy of Procter & Gamble listens to C . S. Adams of Antioch College
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