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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 21, No. 10
PRIESTLEY MEDAL AWARD Presented to Francis P . Garvan on September 11, 1929, at the 78th Meei:ing of the American Chemical Society at Minneapolis, Minn., and given a nation-wide broadcast over the Columbia system.
Unusual interest was manifested in the presentation of this medal, as evidenced by the fact that the ballroom of the Nicollet Hotel, where the award was made, was packed to capacity with standing room there and in the adjoining anterooms a t a premium. Among the distinguished Feople on the platform were Irving Langmuir, President of the Snc:Ew; Wm. M. McPherson, President-elect; immediate Past President S. W. Parr; W. A. Noyes and Julius Stieglitz, Past Presidents of the SOCIETY; Lotus D. Coffman, president of the University of Minnesota; Theodore Christianson, governor of Minnesota; W. F. Kunze, mayor of Minneapolis; and George B. Frankforter, honorary chairman of the meeting.
growth. Mr. Garvan has served the cause of chemistry, not only through The Chemical Foundation, but he and Mrs. Garvan have personally by generous gifts established many of the most important of the agencies that are now laying the foundation of future chemical progress. In reply to the official notification that he was t o receive the Priestley Medal, A h . Garvan referred to his own efforts as, “services that I have been privileged to render for the advancement of chemical knowledge and chemical education.” I will not attempt to give a list of all of hIr. Garvan’s services to chemistry. I n a recent editorial in INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRYthis has been ably done. Sixteen major contributions which are there described form but n partial list. In looking over these, I am impressed by the fact that it is not so much the opportunities or the privileges which RIr. Garvan has enjoyed that have made Irving Langmuir these contributions possible, but it is rather the remarkably PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY skillful and far-sighted use he has made of them. Each of these sixteen “services” is important, not for N 1874, one hundred years after the discovery of oxygen whaf has been done, but for what has been started. When by America’s pioneer chemist, Priestley, a group of seeds are planted t o furnish a crop that will meet the widechemists met a t Northumberland, Pa., to commemorate spread future need, the value lies, not in the seeds themselves, the event. Two years but in the growing organisms that spring up, develop, and I i l a t e r , a s a r e s u l t multiply. Thus it is with X r . Garvan’s contributions. of t h e c o n t a c t s In this country much wealth is given each year to ese s t a b l i s h e d a t this tablish or endow buildings, monuments, or colleges. Within meeting, the AhfERI- very recent years the business leaders of the country have CAX C H E M I C A L So- begun to realize that the future growth of industry depends CIETY was founded. almost Jvholly on carefully planned research. PhilantliroIt is thus f i t t i n g pists are gradually learning to give millions, in this fortunate t h a t t h e h i g h e s t country of ours, for the endowment of research organisms honor that can be be- and for fellowships which make it possible for some of our stowed by American ablest young men to continue research work in pure science chemists, established in our universities instead of being forced prematurely into through the efforts of commercial work.. Professor Phillips and Mr. Garvan is keenly aware of the need for such research, E d g a r F . S m i t h , but through his sympathetic understanding of the chemist should be known as and of the relation of chemistry t o the welfare of mankind, the Priestley Medal. he almost alone knows of a far greater need. He sees millions It is givcn by this being given to research and hardly a dollar for recording and SOCIETYevery three for making widely available the results of these researches. years for “ D i s t i n The burden of the publication of scientific results has fallen Irving Langmuir guished Services to to an unbearable degree on scientific societies in this country Chemistry.” There which have only a few thousands of members. The maxihave been but two awards: to Ira Remsen in 1923 and to mum dues that membership can afford has long been entirely inadequate to pay for the publication of the results of the inEdgar F. Smith in 1926. The Priestley Medal Committee this year voted unani- creased volume of modern research or to record the progress of mously t o award the third impression of the medal t o Francis chemistry without xhich the value of research is forever lost. Thus there is peculiar significance in the fact that the first P. Garvan. Although Mr. Garvan has been trained as a lawyer, ever seven out of the sixteen major services to which reference since 1917, when he entered the office of the Alien Property has been made have to do with the publication of the reCustodian, and thus learned the importance of chemical prog- sults in research. The Journal of Physical Chemistry and the Journal of ress to mankind a t large, he has taken a part in the advancement of chemistry in America greater than would have been Chemical Education, with over ten thousand subscribers, have been made possible only through the generosity of the possible to any professional chemist. The chemical patents which were taken over by the Govern- Chemical Foundation. The greatest chemical publication ment during the war were ultimately disposed of to The of all, Chemical Abstracts, through lack of funds a few years Chemical Foundation, which has acted as a trustee to protect ago reached a state where it was forced to curtail publication American chemical industry and to stimulate its further by nearly fifty per cent. Through Mr. Garvan and the
Address of Presentation
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October, 1929
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Foundation about $50,000 yearly are being paid into a fund which will be a nucleus of an endowment to maintain with adequate completeness this key to the chemical literature of the world. One of the greatest hopes of mankind for the betterment of human conditions lies, as Mr. Garvan sees, in the close alliance of chemistry and biology or medicine. In this particular field Mr. and Mrs. Garvan have initiated very important new lines of research. They have endowed institutions for the study of cancer and of tuberculosis. About $200,000 were given for work on the problem of the common cold, that much neglected source of so much human in suffering. A remarkable series of books-“Chemistry Agriculture,” ‘(Chemistry in Industry,,’ and “C’hemistry in Medicine”-and many others have been distributed a t or below cost in numbers which reach to about ten million. These have educated the adult population of this country so that men realize now as never before what great progress is in store for us through the applications of chemistry. The volume of chemical research is growing far faster than the wealth or population of this country and is going t o grow faster than almost any of us realize. But with such rapid increase there is serious danger that a liniitation will be reached. The prosperity of the country and the realization of the importance of chemistry should make indefinite extension possible, but the supply of adequately trained young men and women of ability may absolutely fail to meet the demand. Such a need could not be met in many years, since chemists cannot be made overnight. blr. Garvan’s vision has enabled him to see this future situation. He has been and is planning for the chemistry of ten or twenty years in the future. This means, not merely the education of young men and women who are in our universities, but that children of high-school age must be reached in large numbers so that the youngsters who have ability, enthusiasm, and natural curiosity may realize the fascinations of chemistry, and learn to understand the needs of the world for progress in chemistry. The Prize Essay Contest, which has been held annually for the last six years, constitutes, I believe, a solution of this problem. hlr. and hlrs. Garvan have given over a quarter of a million dollars t o make these yearly contests possible. Last year more than one hundred thousand students submitted essays on subjects within the field of chemistry. From the announcement of the program of this meeting you have seen that the subject chosen by hlr. Garvan for his short address is “Random Thoughts of a Lay Chemist.” I know of no friend of chemistry who has been guided less by random thoughts. You can see that the essence of 11r. Garvan’s contributions is that he has put his soul into them. Mr. Buffum, you have been sent by hlr. Garvan as his personal representative-I understand that Mr. Garvan is listening to this radio broadcast so that I can address my remarks to him directly, as well as indirectly through you. I regret deeply that hlr. Garvan cannot be with us in person this evening, although he has nearly completely recovered from his illness. It is t o me a great personal pleasure and satisfaction that 1 am privileged, on behalf of the AhlERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, to tender to hlr. Garvan through you this Priestley Medal for distinguished services to chemistry.
Acceptance for Mr. Garvan W. W. Buffum
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REGRET most deeply that hlr. Garvan cannot be present in person to receive this medal and acknowledge to you his gratification and pride in the honor you are showing him. His own words will presently tell you something of what
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is in his heart and in his mind. He is a t present listening to every word that is said. Suffice it for me to say that twelve years of closest cooperation with Mr. Garvan, through periods of darkest outlook followed by periods of most encouraging success, have convinc,ed me that this is one of the proudest moments of his life. As his friend, admirer, and ardent supporter, I accept this, the Priestley Medal, gratefully and proudly on his behalf and promise to deliver it safely into his hands in his Adirondack retreat with the greatest possible speed.
Address by Julius Stieglitz
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ESTEEM it a very gratifying privilege to have been asked to read the statement of the great friend of chemistry whom we are honoring this evening. I am sure we are unanimous in a feeling of deep regret that Mr. Garvan’s health has not permitted his presence here, and I am equally sure that we all agree that the preservation of a life so valuable to our science, and indeed to our country, should receive paramount consideration. With your indulgence, our time permitting, I would like to preface my reading of X r . Garvan’s statement with a few personal remarks of my own. After ten years of rather c l o s ~cooperation with him, I think I can spm up his personality and his public aims in life in the observation that he is a noble-hearted Irish-American. He has the fine ardor of the Irish for great causes and their great capacity for personal devotion, love, and sentiment of a worthy type. Perhaps most important of all, he has their splendid fighting powers, the capacity to bring about, by personal effort, personal sacrifice, and unsparing demands on himself, the ideals he has taken to heart. In Revolutionary days Mr. Garvan would have been a member of the Boston Tea Party and an ardent champion of American political independence. In our day he has been one of our foremost champions of Ameriran chemical independence! He has given his best thought, his strength, his time, and his wealth unstintedly to that great cause. He has been a selfless leader and has faced persecution and calumny only to emerge victoriously from the highest courts of our land, the United States Supreme Court not excepted. He has sacrificed his health t o the cause, and no man can do more. A wise and foresighted leader, Mr. Garvan has shown a unique capacity to seize upon the strategic means to bring about the desired results of his visions. As a consequence, our chemical industries, our schools, our universities, our country owe him a debt which it is a pleasure to see recognized in his own lifetime by this token of appreciation by the AMERICANC H E M I C ~ L SOCIETY. But you are eager to hear LCIr. Garvan’s own views and I will now proceed to read his ‘.Random Thoughts of a Lay Chemist.”
Greetings from President of the United States The foregoing address was interrupted in order that the following telegram from President Hoover might be read: T h e White House, Washington, D. C. September 10, 1929 CHARLES ..I PARSONS AMBRICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, NICOLLET HOTEL MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
I am glad to be among those who congratulate both Mr. Garvan and the American Chemical Society upon the award of the Priestley Medal.
HERBERT HOOVER
