February, 1929
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
177
PERKIN MEDAL AWARD The Perkin Medal for 1929 was presented t o Eugene C. suilivan, president of Corning Glass Works, Corning, N. Y . , on January 4, 1929, a t the joint meeting of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, the AMERICAX CHEMICAL SOCIETY,the Societe de Chimie Industrielle, and the Electrochemical Society, in New York City. The program included an account of the early days of the medalist, by Alfred H. White, and of his accomplishments, by Arthur L. Day, followed by the presentation of the medal by a’illiam H. Nichols, and its acceptance by the medalist. Doctor White’s remarks were in part as follows:
Applied Chemistry.” It was founded in 1906 a t the time of the Perkin semi-centennial celebration of the coal-tar discoveries, the first medal being awarded to Sir William H. Perkin himself. The previous Perkin medalists are given below: DATEOF AWARD 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
It was formerly said in business circles t h a t the man t o be picked for the president of a company should be a hard-headed, practical man who had worked up from the position of office boy. Later the trend seemed to be toward the promotion of attorneys or salesmen, and now we are coming to the period when the scientist with a rich background of experience as well as scientific knowledge is considered the logical man to promote to an executive position. Doctor Sullivan is one of the pioneers in receiving this recognition. His father was foreman of the composing room of the Chicago Tribune, and while still a small boy Eugene learned to set type and to read proof. During his high-school course he spent his Saturday nights as a proofreader on the Tribune, and the money which he saved a t that time and which he earned in a similar position during vacations furnished most of the funds for his college course. Graduating from the course in chemistry at the University of Michigan in 1894, he was employed first in a dynamite plant and later in one which made baking powder. The desire for further study took him to Germany in 1896 where, after a semester with Nernst in Gottingen, he studied with Ostwald in Leipzig and received his Ph.D. in 1899. Returning t o the United States, he sepnt four years teaching analytical chemistry a t the University of Michigan. Promotion was slow at the university and Doctor Sullivan resigned in 1903 t o become a chemist with the United States Geological Survey. After five years he resigned that position to go to the Corning Glass Works as chief chemist, where he gradually built up the wonderful research division which has done so much t o bring ,American glass to the respected position which it now occupies. Starting in the laboratory, he gradually rose to have charge of the raw materials and melting of the glass and was successively promoted to be vice president, and in 1928 to be president, of the company. The Perkin Medal is awarded “annually t o the American chemist who has most distinguished himself by his services t o
AWARDED TO Sir W. H. Perkin J. B. F. Herreshoff Arno Behr E. G. Acheson Charles M. Hall Herman Frasch
1913 1914 1915
James Gayley John W. Hyatt Edward Weston
1916
L. H. Baekeland
1917 1918
Ernest Twitchell Auguste J. Rossi
1919 1920
Frederick G. Cottrell Charles F. Chandler
1921
Willis R. Whitney
1922
William M. Burton
1923
Milton C. Whitaker
1924
Frederick M. Becket
1925
Hugh K. hloore
1926 1927
R. B. Moore John E . Teeple
1928
Irving Langmuir
PRINCIPAL
FIELDS OF
INVENTIONS
Discoverer of first aniline color Metallurgy: contact sulfuric acid Corn products industry Carborundum; artificial graphite Metallic aluminum Desulfuring oil and subterranean sulfur industry Dry air blast Colloids and flexible roller bearings. Electrical measurements; electrodeposition of metals; flaming arc Velox photoprint paper; bakelite and synthetic resins; caustic soda industry Saponification of fats Development of manufacture and use of ferrotitanium Electrical precipitation Noteworthy achievements in almost every line of chemical endeavor Development of research and application of science to industry Achievement in oil industry; efficient conversion of high-boiling fractions into low-boiling fractions Great constructive work in field of applied chemistry Process for extraction of rare metals from ores; manufacture of calcium carbide; processes for reduction of rare metals and alloys Electrochemical processes for caustic soda, soda, and chlorine; production of wood pulp; hydrogenation of oils, etc. Radium, mesothorium, and helium Significant scientific, technical, and administrative achievements, particularly the economic development of an American potassium industry a t Searles Lake, Calif. Atomic hydrogen and its application. to welding
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The Many-Sidedness of Glass Eugene C. Sullivan CORNINGGLASSWORKS,CORKING,N. Y.
NY results achieved a t Corning have come, not from one mind and one pair of hands, but from many minds and many hands working in cooperation. First, tribute should be paid to the men who were clear-sighted enough t o plant their money in the field of research at a timetwenty years or more ago-when visibility of dividends from that field was far lower than today. The research organization a t Corning, which has actually done the work, is made up of men willing to devote their efforts unselfishly to the common good. Some of the members of the research staff whose names should be mentioned are W. C. Taylor, chief chemist; J. T.Littleton, Jr., chief physicist; H. P. Gage,
A
chief of the Optical Laboratory; George V. McCauley, Gordon S. Fulcher, Harrison P. Hood, Rowland D. Smith, and the list could easily be extended. A competent engineering and mechanical development force has contributed also valuable advice and assistance; and, finally, the men who are most intimately familiar with glass, many of whom have given a lifetime to intelligent study of their material long hours every day, year in and year out-the superintendents and foremen and glass workers-we have found ready to meet the technical man more than half way, and eager t o contribute the observations for which they have such unexcelled opportunity. Old notebooks still in existence indicate that there always was
