April 1947
463
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
nirridcd by John Johnston of Yale, n-ho had knon-n him in Washington. Killiams soon detected one of the causes of failure of rubber as insulation in the absorpt,ion of water by the natural water-soluble constituents of raw rubber, By much more thorough washing than had ever been used before, he succeeded in rvmoving these constituents and produced for the first time a high grade rubber insulation n-hich would not absorb water even in a deeply submerged cable. He next started looking at other insulations for effect,s similar to those he had discovered in rubber, and found them in cotton and paper and other insulating materials. This led him into fields of paper condensers, lead-covered cables, textile insulated n-ires, telephone drop wires, t,he decay of telephone poles, and, in fact, into so many aspects of the telephone business t,hat he became admirably qualified t o be chemical director of Bell Telephone Laboratories, to which post he was appointed in 1925. His SUCcess as administrator of a wide area of research was quite as marked as his success as an experimental investigator. His load at Bell Telephone Laboratories was heavy enough for any man, but by the very nature of that n-ork i t could not serve to satisfy the interest n-hich had been aroused when Captain Vedder assigned him the problem of chasing dolm the cure for beriberi. 80 he set out to carry on that job a t home as an extra-curricular activity. Needing a laboratory, he converkd his garage into one. Seeding a centrifuge, he confiscated his wife’s washing machine. Seeding other special tools, he made them. Seeding money, he confiscated his savings. Kot having enough of his o n q he got help from the Fleischmann Company - - and later from the Carnegie Corporation. About. 1928 laboratory facilities were made available at Teachers’ College at Columbia. Here he gathered about him a group of enthusrastic workers n-ho joined kyth him in the pursuit of the elusive vitamin. Some were paid from the Carnegie Fund while others were, like Williams, purely volunteer rrorkers. I n this latter group was included Robert Waterman, also then of the Bell Laboratories, who started with TTilliams on the vitamin work in 1924 and continued on t o the end. These tvio, together with E. R. Buchman, now of California Tech, went. even further in their zeal. Soon after the group had worked out an efficient niethod of isolating the vitamin in September 1933, the supply of funds was cut off and these three carried on the work with their own money. Finally the load became more than they could bear for by now Williams mas faced with the dual necessity of producing crystalline vitamin and, a t the same time, Torking on the structure. He made a deal n-hereby Jlerck & Company generously supplied crystalline vitamin isolated by the Williams proress and provided splendid laboratory facilities for the Tvork on structure. Merck gambled real money on Killiams, but the gamble paid off handsomely.. By 1936 the structure was determined and synthesis achieved. A11 of this had been done while he was still carrying his full-time job in the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Williams’ early experience Tvith patents had taught him the necessit’y of securing adequate protection as a means to ensure ’ sound development. He did not want to exploit the patents for himself nor did lie want anyone else t o get an unfair advantage from them. Fortunately, Research Corporation, founded by Frederick G. Cottrell, provided a mechanism which had been designed to meet this kind of situation. In 1935 Williams turned over all of his patent rights in relation to the vitamin project under an arrangement which xould ensure that the profits coming to Research Corporation would go t o the good purposes in which they engage as supporters of research, and that only a small share should return to him and his colleagues. The major portion of the royalties were placed in a special fund administered jointly by Research Corporation and the inventing group entitled “The K i l hams-Waterman Fund for the Combat, of Dietary Diseases”. Since its inception in 1939 more than half a million dollars has been spent by this fund /or research in the field of nutrition. There is every indication that the good work vi11 be kept up. But even when the manufacture was on a commercial scale, Wlliams n-as still faced with the problem of making certain that the public viould get effective benefit of the work he had done in a surer way than by depending upon them to buy pills in the drug store. Through Sational Research Council’s Food and Kutrition Board, he pronioted the incorporation of vitamin Bl in wheat flour which made it automatically available t o subst,antially the whole population of the country. World V’ar I1 brought a heavy impact on every member of Bell Telephone Laborat’ories, and Williams was no exception. His demonstrated abilities and special knoviledge in t,wo very different fields brought demands t o play a key part in each. The Rubber Director called for his sefvices to supervise the fundamental research program on synthetic rubber. On the other hand, he was needed as chairman of the Cereal Committee of the Food and Sutrition Board. Both of these responsibilities he discharged
with distinction n-hile he cohtinued as chemical director of Bell Telephone Laboratories, with its heavy load of war research under his supervision. T h e n the war was finally over, Williams asked for retirement, not to stop v-ork but in order to devote all of his time to administration of the Villiams-Katerman Fund. to serve as scientific adviser to the Research Corporation, and to continue work in the Food and Xutrition Board. These are his present activities. So we find Robert Williams well on the way to carrying back to his starting place the solution of the problem on which he embarked thirty-six years ago. Decorations have been bestowed upon him and he has been given honorary degrees by Ottawa University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Columbia, Yale, and the University of Chicago. He could well be excused for resting on his laurels, but there is no end to the road which he travels, for inside him is something that ndl continue to impel him as long as he lives.
Perkin Medalists 1906 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927
H. PERKIS
1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 C H . 4 R L E S F.C H A T D L E R 1941 W I L L I S r
