Λη American
Contemporary
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William Reed \nm A U B R E Y D.
W
HILE many of our most illustrious chemists taught before entering and win ning renown in industry, of the lot Wil liam Reed Veazey perhaps lingered longer in the classroom than any of his contem poraries. All told, more than 30 years of Veazey's career has been spent in the classroom. For 29 years he taught at Case Institute of Technology, in Cleveland, re solved that he would be the best professor on the staff. When, in 1936, he resigned his position as head of the department of chemistry and chemical engineering in order to join the Dow Chemical Co., in recognition of his outstanding work in the classroom Case bestowed upon him its highest tribute—the honorary doctor of engineering degree. Veazey was born in Chase City, VSL. At the age of 10 the little boy and his parents, together with Aunt Lucy, his black mammy, moved to the small college town of New Wilmington, Pa., where in due course he entered its West minister College, being graduated in 1903 with an A.B. degree. At 22 he became an instructor in chemis try at the University of Oregon; later, he returned East for further study at Johns Hopkins University, obtaining the Ph.D. degree there in 1907. Almost im mediately he joined the staff of Case School of Applied Science as instructor in chemis try. By 1909 he was an assistant pro fessor, also serving as a consulting engineer on the side. In 1918 he became associate professor, and in 1928 he took the helm of the chemical engineering department. As far back as 1909 the Dow company began research on possible products from magnesium present in the Midland brine. Herbert Dow, himself an alumnus of Case, in 1914 induced Veazey to do some special work in Cleveland on this problem, and, beginning in 1916, Veazey put in all of his vacation time at the Dow laboratories in Midland. Plants to produce magne sium sulfate and magnesium chloride were VOLUME
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completed by Dow at the outbreak of World War 1. Imports of these chemicals being cut off by the war, Dow found a ready market for its products. Mag nesium reached a price of $5.00 per pound. Herbert Dow believed that magnesium metal could be produced, from the mag nesium chloride, already in production, by electrolysis. He decided: that Veazey would be just the man to develop the process. So in the summer of 1916, Veazey was induced to come to Midland and was placed in charge of a small de velopment group, with instructions to produce a single one-pound chaink of magnesium metal b y the electrolytic method. One morning of tliat summer, after much around-the-clock labor, Veazey and his associates were able to display a one-pound piece of the unusual metal. In the following years t h e Dow com pany spent great sums of money in de veloping the magnesium industry, and Veazey continued as a consultant in vari ous phases of that development, including production, metallurgy, and fabrication. The rest of the history of magnesium pro duction in this country is well known— the part played by magnesium i n World War II in the making of aircraft parts and incendiaries; the construction of plants for extraction of the metal from sea water; the pre-eminence attained by t h e Dow Chemical Co. in this field. For 20 years after producing t h a t first pound of magnesium, metal, Veazey spent his summer vacation periods as a con sultant at the Dow plant in Midland. During all this time he had a standing offer of a permanent place -with t h e Dow company. I t was not until 1935 that he decided to avail himself of i t . The patience and understanding which Veazey developed as a teaclier h a s stood him in good stead in his industrial career with the Dow Chemical Co., many of whose top men are Case alumni. As a child Veazey's little aches a n d pains often were dissolved by the réassurances of his Aunt Lucy: "Law, Honey Chile, you don't have t o worry 'bout nothin'. Aunt Lucy is here." Perhaps a kindred feeling of confidence surged through t h e Dow staff when Veazey joined i t . Aside from his position as a company director, Veazey
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bears n o official title. His work, however, is that of coordinator of research, patent, and product development. Back in t h e twenties Veazey took a leading part in Dow's early development work i n the insecticide field. Herbert Dow, an ardent agriculturalist, had learned considerable about insect damage from experiments in his own orchard. He was continually looking for new spray materials t o combat insect pests. With E . C. Britton, now director of Dow's organic research laboratory, Veazey carried o u t an organized experimental spray program during the summers of 1922 and 1923, using the Dow orchards for their operations. From t h a t point agricultural chemicals assumed an i η ere a s i n g l y significant posi tion in the Dow research and merchan d i ζ i n g '^^ή£^2^^Σ^έ^1^Α.^4 program. By 1938 the company was marketing 10 agricultural products. To day t h e list has grown to more than 50, t o become a substantial part of the more than 5O0 products made by Dow. Veazey is a big man physically as well a s in science. At 14 he weighed 180 pounds, and for a time he swung a pick 10 hours a day, six days a week, at 10 cents a n hour—a man's work, a man's wages. He is still a robust, deep voiced, outdoor man, quick with a laugh, and with a propensity for fishing. There is no "plush carpet" atmosphere about his office. The door is always open, and there is an air of informality about the man t h a t immediately puts the visitor at ease. Veazey has been a director since 1939 and a vice president since 1944 of Dowell, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., a Dow subsidiary founded in 1932 to specialize in acid treat ment of oil and gas wells. He has been a director since 1943 of Dow Corning Corp., Midland, Mich., a Dow associate com pany. He has long been a member of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, of
the
American Electrochemical Society, of which he served as president in 1945, and of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. For several years Veazey has held a trusteeship in a Presbyterian school, Alma College, in Alma, Mich. Locally, he has served as president of the Midland Cham ber of Commerce, as well as of the Midland Community Fund and the Midland Com munity Center. During the war he was also active on the rationing board in Mid land. This past spring, 45 years after Veazey sallied forth from Westminister College, he returned to receive from his alma mater, of which he has been a trustee for a num ber of years, an honorary doctor of science degree. 2607
