Registration reaches an alltime high of 15,047 at the New York meeting. Long lines awaiting their turn indicated from the first day that previous records would fall
N e w York ACS Meeting Tops 15,000 Sets new record for attendance,student rate may have helped Professional stature comes from achievement and a n attitude of service; it is not conferred, says Emery
N
EW YORK SET A NEW RECORD for
at-
tendance at national meetings of the AMERICAN
CHEMICAL SOCIETY
held the attention of several speakers at group functions during the week.
last
week when 15,047 registered for the five-day event. This is 2523 more than attended the previous New York meeting in 1954 when 13,514 registered. The 1954 record started falling on Sunday when advance registration ran well ahead of that for the earlier meeting. Daily registrations continued several hundred ahead of 1954 figures for the next several days, until Thursday when they began tapering off. But the momentum 'had been gained, and the totals from the several registration areas in Midtown Manhattan sailed over 15,000 on Friday morning. A possible factor in setting the record: This was the first meeting at which students registered for the new, $2.00 rate. Professional needs and responsibilities of chemists and chemical engineers
More Brainpower Needed American progress rests on four major foundations, according to Eric A. Walker, president of Pennsylvania State University. These factors—social and political environment, materials, energy, and manpower resources. Key to the whole picture is brainpower, Walker told the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry in its feature lecture. To keep up the flow and the quality of brainpower, Walker declares, w e must re-examine our whole academic structure. He proposes a three point program: • Eliminate loss of talent between high school and college. • Reduce the inefficiency of the "one-tier" educational system in our colleges.
• Get more from the brains we already have. For the first point, Walker says, lei us identify potential scientists while they are still in secondary school and then convince them that they should go on to college. At the same time, w e should somehow provide the money needed for those who now want to go on but cannot afford to do so. One suggestion: L e t the Government put u p the money; let the student repay it when h e establishes himself in his profession. Before the rest of his program can be made effective, Walker continues, w e need to know more about how best to teach the sciences and how best to use a man when he enters the profession. He suggests tfiat two effective areas for research would be these—from it we would learn how to give each student as much education as he can use and get more out of each practicing scientist. Since all areas of endeavor in our present day society are feeling the manpower pinch, this would then provide a means of over-all relief, Walker concludes.
Professional Attitudes "If chemists and chemical engineers want to be recognized as professional men, they must act like professional men, they must think like professional men, they must constantly grow in mental stature, they must merit the recSEPT. 2 3.
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The professional man must learn to subdue personal achievement to the broad advancement of knowledge and t h e general welfare of society. Personal recognition from associates can, of course, be gained through papers a n d speeches. But those whose work h a s been of the greatest benefit to mankind are often the least known to the public. The personal traits of the professional man are also significant. The list could b e almost endless. But as a minimum they must include such things as dignity, intellectual openmindedness and honesty, a sense of responsibility, good judgment, and initiative.
Job—to Educate Public
Crowded chemists, chemical engineers, and guests celebrate the opening day of the 132nd National Meeting with a Mixer at the Statler Hotel ballroom
ognition." On this note Alden H. Emery, ACS Executive Secretary, concluded his address on professional attitudes at the Alpha Chi Sigma dinner. Although the court has ruled that chemistry is a profession and most chemists consider themselves to be professional men, says Emery, these factors alone are not enough. Many chemists, h e says, seem to think of professional stature in terms of direct monetary reward. And this, in itself, is an unprofessional attitude. While most chemists consider themselves to be professionals, many are unwilling to observe and develop those characteris-
tics which make up the "whole" professional man. T h e attributes of a professional man can never be laid down exactly since they vary from one observer t o the next. Certain traits, however, are generally recognized, and these can b e taken a s minimum requirements. T h e professional man is, first of all, an educated person—predominately mental as contrasted with physical education. Professionalism also requires constant reeducation and t h e refresbment and extension of ideas, concepts, and methods. The professional c h e m ist cannot overlook any opportunity t o renew and broaden his learning.
Top Russian scientists plainly have technical ability, are intellectually subtle and true members of an intelligentsia, John Turkevitch (center) of Princeton tells Robert L. Burwell, Jr. (left), Northwestern, and John E. Willard o f Wisconsin at the Physical and Inorganic Dinner 24
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The intelligent public does not know that within the past 2 5 years chemicals have become t h e key materials of our material civilization, says Williams Haynes. Speaking before the Division of the History of Chemistry in accepting the Dexter Award, Haynes pointed to sulfuric acid, as did Liebig more than a century ago. Even then, sulfuric acid w a s a n excellent measure of industrial activity. Today, a table of the current production a n d stock on hand, of sales and prices, of this acid is the most accurate possible chart of any country's economic health. These figures are hard t o get—many plants and much intraplant consumption—but they would b e promptly and accurately published if a fraction of t h e people vitally interested in forecasting the state of die nation realized that they are much more definite guideposts than steel or wheat, electricity or coal, the railroads or die stock market. Even our economists and historians, says Haynes, have not begun to grasp t h e meaning of the chemical revolution, t h e very core of which is the substitution of man-made for natural raw materials in all sorts of industries. It is the job of die chemical historian t o educate the public, says Haynes. "Pick u p any economic history of the American people or any textbook in d i e so-called social sciences on the American w a y of life. Read what is written there about chemical research and chemical industry and the use of chemicals today. "It is through ignorance, I am sure, but what they are not teaching t h e coming generation is pathetic."
