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T H E JOURNAL OF I N D UXTRIAL A N D Eh’GINEERING CHEiVIXTR Y
Vol. 14, N o . 9
Pittsburgh as a Center of Chemical Education By E. H.McClelland TECHNOLOGY LIBRAITAN, CARNEGIE LIBRARYO F
PITTSBURGH,
PITTSBURGH, P A .
TTTSBURGH, by reason of its industrial supremacy, has lists Rev. Robert Bruce as “Professor of Natural Philosophy, long been characterized as “The Workshop of the Chemistry, Mathematics, A ~ c . ” The ~ first laboratory courses World.” The city has won wide fame also as a cen- were introduced by ,John W. 1,angley (a brother of Gamuel ter of engineering activity. There is an old but unveri- Pierpont Langley), professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and fiable tradition that one in five of the engineers in this coun- geology, in 1872-1873. Francis C. Phillips took charge of try spends some part of his life in Pit&the work in chcmistry in 1S75. He Rays: burgh, and monuments to the ability of In my early teaching the complete lack of Pittsburgh engineers exist in the form of equipment proved a serious obstacle. In important engineering achievements in all answer to my earnest appeal for apparatus and chemicals the Chancellor was able t o parts of the world. quote Sir Humphry Davy, who hadpublicly Despite the recognition of Pittsburgh’s declared that a chemist needed only a few preeminence in industrial and engineering tobacco pipes and teacups in order to perlines, there has been little general realiform the most varied experiments. Assuredly this wicked and thoughtless remark of Davy’s zation of her importance as a center of has done more to obstruct the progress of chemical work and chemical training. academic chemistry than did all his discovThis may be, in part, hecause the chemeries to advance it: because University presist’s work, however important, is not idents have made it a practice to know Davy’s words by heart and have used them spectacular and the results are not conwith appalling effect when the estimates for spicuous, and because the layman does not supplies were being pared down‘ for next understand the nature of cheniical work year’s budget-a plain warning to us that and thus the public in general remains unwe should in a spirit of kindness guard and protect our college presidents from reading informed regarding the true significance of the harmful literature of such undesirable the chemkt’s achievements. citizens as Sir Humphry D a ~ y . ~ It has been said that 60 per cent of manuDr. Phillips taught chemistry here for facturing is chemistry. This statement forty years. He won high renown as a applies with particular force in the Pittsburgh region where t h r manufacture of the W . 0. Breckon Studios teacher, while his research work brougrit him an international reputation, particumore important products, such as steel, E. H. MCCLELLAND larly in the field of gap chemistrv. His dass. and coke. is under chmical control. As a matter of fact, Pittsburgh is an important center work W B ~so thorough that to-day gas chemists admit the of chemical industry, as will be competently set forth else- accuracy of hir rcsults, and fcel that they can with assurance I n the scientific control begin investigation a t the point where Dr. Phillips left off. where in this issue of the JOURNAL. The University of Pittsburgh offers courses in chemistry of this industry, as well as in chemical consultation and research, Pittsburgh employs thousands of chemistP, and she and chemical engineering, snd also trains men for M.S. and is in very large measure training them to tneet the demand. P1i.D. degrees. Dr. Alexander Silverman is hesd of the From a recent survey of “Investment in Chemical Educa- Department of Chemistry, and the faculty includes 5 protion in the United States, 1920-1921”1 considering all the fessors, 6 instructors, and 14 assistants. Members of the larger colleges and universities, it appears that Pennsyl- professorial group hold the Ph.D. degree or have its equivvania leads in the number of institutions reporting (33), is alent in experience, while most of the remaining members of fourth in valuation of buildings and equipment ($1,854,8521, the faculty have the master’s degree. and fifth in total investment in chemical education ($2,404,The Depnrtment of Chemistry offers 14 undergraduate 531). A considerable part of these totals, of course, repre- and 22 graduate courres and certain special courses arc offered sents institutions in the eastern part of the state, but there is by senior fellows in the Mellon Institute of Industrial Rea large number of colleges in western Pennqylvania, outside search. The courses for chemists and chemical engineers of Pittsburgh but within what is generally recognized as the devote two years to each of the fundamental subjects-inor“Pittsburgh District,” and in Pittsburgh alone the total ganic, organic, analytical, and physical chemistry-and incollege enrollment is approximately 14,000. clude courqes in sanitary chemistry, fuels, and industrial chemistry. One requirement of these courses is three years’ AC4DEMIO RDUCA~~IOK work in modern languages, About 120 students were enrolled UKIVERRITY O F PITTSBURGH-The EniVerFity Of Pitts- in chemistry and chemical engineering during the college burgh, formerly the Western University of Pennsylvania, year just ended. first organized classes in engineering SO years ago, and was the I n the work for advanced degrees, two-thirds of the work first institution west of the Allegheny mountains to grant must be done in courses and one-third in research. The engineering degrees. Of the older graduates, half of those now living are in executive positions, and approximately research may be conducted eithrr at the University or in certain approwd industrial laboratories in the vicinity. one-third are engaged in the stpel industrye2 The teaching of chemistry was inaugurated a t an early Forty-five graduate students were enrolled in these courses date, but the record? are very scanty. A catalng of 1822 last year.
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THISJOURNAL, 14 (1922), 237. ‘ Facts from the Engineers of To-day t o the Engineers of To-morrow.’’
A pamphlet published by t h e Unlverslty of Pittsburgh, June 1922
“The Western University in 1922,” by Francis C. Phillips, 1919. “The Old Western University at the Corner of Diamond and Ross Streets, Pittsburgh,” 1914. 8
4
Sept., 1922
T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D EiVGINEERI,VG CHE’MISTRY
The Department of Chemktry also provides training for undergraduates planning to enter engineering, msdicine, and other fields, and the enrollment from these sources is 950. Some of the special engineering courses reqnire considerable chemistry; for example, the course in oil and gas engineering-the pioneer course ol its kind-goes pretty fully into organic chemistry and certain branche? of chemicaI technology. c.4RKEGIE IXSTITUTE O F TECHNOLOGY-Here courses in chemistry were taken by some 1800 students during the past college year. Sixty were registered in chemical engineering, in which an excellent course is offered under Dr. J. H. James, and a smaller number majoring in chemistry in the four-year course in science. (These figures do not include freshmen, as selection of courses is not made until the end of the first year.) Considerable attention is given t o judicious guidance in the choice of these courses. I n the former, encouragement is given to those whose qualifications are such that they are likely to be successful in the operating field, while the latter course is recommended to the more scholarly type of student who gives promise of developing into a research worker. The latter course naturally offers less of mechanics and engineering, and more of chemistry and physics, and in the senior year prescribes a brief research. Both courses include technical French and German. The course on chemistry offered in the College of Industries is interesting and somewhat unusual. Instruction deals chiefly with the chemical properties of the mzterinls employed in the three major departments of the College, nnmely, machinery production, building conqtruction, and printing. The work of these departments stresses methods of economic production rather than creative design, the intent being to give such training as will enable the student to work into an executive position after a suitable period of employment in the industry. The chemistry taught iq, in brief, the chemistry of materials in service. Prof. R. B. Leighou is in charge of this work, and his book, referred to elsewhere in this paper, is to some extent based on the course of instruction. Following a foundation in general chemistry, organic, inorganic, and electrochemistry are introduced as the subject discussed may demand. Manufacturing proce5ses are not emphasized; only such phases as havc R notable effect on the properties of the products are studied in detail. For examplc, in discussing steely attention is called to the fact that of two steels, one acid and the other basic open-hearth, the latter would be less suitable for castings, since it would probably be more oxidized because of the longer period in the furnace and the fact that it could not be deoxidized in the furnace on account, of the phosphorus-bearing slag. I n the accompanging laboratory work, for example, the permeability of paint films i. determined; iron casting3 are ex~iminedfor segregation of sulfides by making sulfur prints; and polished samples of steel are sealed up in air-free water to show that the steel will not corrode in the absence of free oxygen, thus indicating the effect on the metal in closed heating systems as compared with those in which the water is frequently changed. I n the Margaret Morrison Carnegie School for Womeri, chemistry is in charge of Prof. Charles Watkind:. In addition to chemistry the young woman who is graduated from the Department of General Bcience has also had three years of training in biology, including bacteriology. Her training admits her to the best medical colleges and to the graduate schools of universities, and fits her for commercial work or for teaching. Many graduates now hold positions in hospital, industrial, and research laboratories. The Carnegie Institute or Technology has just announced two iellowships in mining research, and two in teaching and
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research in coKperation with the Pittsburgh Experiment Station ol the United States Bureau of Mines. The feld lowships are open to graduates, and it is evident that chemk t r y will play an important part in the work, since the list of investigations announced includes such subjects as by-product coking and acid mine water^.^ OTHERINsTrTuTror;s-Pittsburgh has two other instltutions of collegiate rank, Duquesne University and the Pennsylvania College for Women, and the curricula of both institutions include courses in chemistry. The teaching of chemistry in Pittsburgh’s secondary schools must not be overlooked. One of the reeent highschool buildings, “Schenley High,” cost the city nearly $1,500,000. It ranks among the first ten high schools in the United States, and its equipment for science teaching is vastly superior to that of m m y colleges and universities. Evidence of the thorough instruction in chemistry may be found in the character of the material in Pugh and Miller’s “Problem Course in Chemistry”-a text which two of the instructors have prepared for their courses there. CORPORATION TRAINING Concise but definite and systematic instruction in chemistry and metallurgy now forms a part of the required training of many salesmen and other nontechnical employees of the large steel companies. The pioneer development of these courses was the work of a Pittsburgh chemist, and the instruction now given here goes far to increase the competency of many employees who will never engage directly in chemistry or metallurgy. I-’RaCTICAL TR.4INING
Pittsburgh’s contribution to chemical education is b y no means confined to academic education. The industries of the Pittqburgh region maintain a very large number of chemical laboratories and each of these is a center of chemical training. The chief chemist of every industrial laboratory is a graduate teacher of the young college-trained chemist and, to an even greater extent, the instructor of the untrained practical chemist. The staff of a large steel works laboratory may number 50 employees, many of whom enter with no training but with the well-defined purpose of becoming chemists. The train.. ing is intensive and the textbooks in many cases are the “Standard Methods” of the United States Steel Corporation. The number of entrants is very large and many of the ablest survive and pass on to positions of considerable responsibility. One who has hem long acquainted with the steel laboratories can point to many men who, beginning a s “carbon boy3,” are now assistant chemists, assistants preparing special solutions, etc.; and to a lesser number who have become able chief chemists or successful furnace superintendents. Though this practical work cannot be recommended as a substitute for theoretical training, it remains a highly important element in the education of chemists in industrial regions such as Pittshurgh. WRITIXGOF BOOKS The CI eation of authoritative textbooks and rcference books is an important factor in chemical education, and the service of good textbooks is by no means limited to their use in schools and colleges. Probably few Pittsburghers realize the extent to which the literature of science and technology has been enriched by the contributions of local authors. Several hundred such books and monographs are catalogued in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and many of these are concerned with chemistry and allied subjects. A mere list of these would in itself afford worthy evidence of 6
Science, 66 (1922), 553.
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T H E JOURNAL, OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 14, No. 9
Pittsburgh’s influence on chemical education.6 Obviously t o education by means of its motion-picture films (concerned complete enumeration cannot be undertaken here, but a few largely with chemical technology) and its mine-safety lecworks may be mentioned as illustrative. tures and demonstrations (based in part on chemistry). The widely read books of the late Robert Kennedy Duncan These activities are nation-wide in service but both are enhave been a source of instruction and inspiration to chem- tirely in charge of the Pittsburgh Experiment Station of the ists and laymen, find by reason of their popular appeal have Bureau. The station is also responsible for numerous pubdoubtless been instrumental in bringing many new disciples lic lectures which in many cases are on chemical subjects. to the shrine of chemistry. “Chemical German,” by the The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research is a prominent late Francis C. Phillips, has been adopted as a texthook in feature in any survey of Pittsburgh’s resources in tlhc field of 28 educational institutions, and thousands of copies have been chemical education. The activities of the Institute will not sold. “Technical Examination of Crude Petroleum,” by be elaborated here, since elsewhere in this issue of the JOURNAL W. A. Hamor and F. W. Padgett, has been adopted in seven this subject will be ably presented. Aside from the systematic inst
