SUPPLYING the CHEMICAL MAN-POWERfor the NEW ERA* GUSTAVUS J. ESSELENI
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T IS A PLEASURE to meet with you this afternoon and discuss some thoughts which have been suggested in part bythe exhibits at the Chemical Exposition and in part by the rapid changes which are taking place in our whole economic life. It is really with some hesitation that I-practically a layman, so far as teaching is concerned-venture to suggest to a group of experts in the teaching field, some of the things which appeal to me as requiring increased emphasis in the new era which lies ahead; and in doing so I am not unmindful of the fact that it is usually the old maids who think they know the most about bringing up children. On the other hand, in studying problems in manufacturing plants, I almost always find something worth while in the ideas of even the humblest workman about a process in connection with which he is employed-ideas which not infrequently lead to overcoming important difficulties. In the same way, even though you may not agree with my suggestions, I hope that they may a t least stimulate your thinking and lead, perhaps, to some really significant advances in the art of training the chemists and chemical engineers that it is your task to supply for the new era. Reference to a "new" era implies that another era has gone before. In the case of chemistry, the era which is coming to an end, and in which chemists have been in great demand, began in 1914. Prior to that, the importance of the chemist in industry was seldom recognized. In fact, even as late as 1912 the prospectus of the department of chemistry of one of our large eastern universities frankly stated that there was very little opportunity for the chemist in either industry or business, and that about the only reason for studying chemistry, if one was not planning to teach it, was with the hope that the analytical or control laboratory might serve as a stepping stone to a more important executive position. Although the war changed all this, nevertheless, there are still many places where the chemist and the chemical engineer are regarded as the efficiency expert was in Colorado recently. He had been sent out into the mountains to advise the miners. He arrived on a particularly cold wintry day, and as he was being driven out to the mines by one of the old miners, the latter spread a buffalo robe over the knees of both to keep out the cold. The efficiency expert, noticing that the fur
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* Presented before a joint meeting of the Chemistry Teachers' Club of New York and the New Jersey Teachers Association at a luncheon at the Chemists' Club in New York on December 9, 1933.
t President, Gustavus J. Esselen. Inc., Chemical Research and Develo~ment,Boston. Mass.
side was out, remarked to the miner that he ought to turn the robe over. "Don't you know," he said, "that it is warmer to have the fur next the body?" The old miner followed the suggestion and began to chuckle as he drove along. This chucklmg irritated the efficiency expert, and finally he said with much show of dignity, "What are you laughing a t ? Are you laughing a t me?" "Oh no," replied the miner, "I was just thinking of the poor buffalo. What a fool he was all his life, that he did not know a simple thing like that." During the last three years there have been frequent discussions as to whether or not we were training too many chemists and chemical engineers, and whether it would be possible to find useful occupations for all our graduates in these subjects. Of course, i t has been difficultfor the recent graduate to find a position during the last three years, but this situation is already on the mend, and we can confidently say that in the new economic era which is just beginning, we are still going to need chemists and chemical engineers quite as much if not more than we have during the period since the war. Chemistry today is interwoven as an indispensable part of our business and industrial fabric. The automobile alone requires either directly or indirectly 232 chemicals in its manufacture. In fact, anyone with even an elementary knowledge of chemistry knows that without this science, the modern automobile would not be possible. Moreover, we are going to rely on the chemist and chemical engineer even more than in the past for the development of new industries to increase the opportunities for earning a livelihood or to compensate in part, a t least, for those jobs which have been eliminated by the increased efficiency of machines or chemical processes. Chemists have done this in the past with rayon and synthetic resins, to mention only two of the more outstanding examples, and the varied exhibits a t the Chemical Exposition indicate that they are still continuing in this work. In the new era, however, it may be advantageous to place the emphasis in the training of our chemists in a slightly different place. Hitherto, in the majority of instances there has been a stringent limitation of time. From now on, however, this time limitation may not be so important. Just as i t appears that the workers in the future will be able to increase the proportion of their time devoted to non-labor pursuits, so i t should be possible for those who are training themselves for technical positions to increase the proportion of their lives which they devote to study and preparation. This in turn will make i t possible to include in the curriculum many things for which there has not been time hitherto.
It follows, also, that when the chemist gets out into industry, he, too, will have more time really to live, and it therefore becomes more important than in the past that he should know how to live, that he should have an appreciation of the beautiful in literature, in art, and in music. I have long felt that an ideal scheme of training, for any engineering or technical work, would consist of three or four years of broad academic training, followed by four or three years of intensive graduate study and research in one's chosen field. There has, of necessity, been a tendency in recent years to include in the chemical engineering curriculum little which did not have a d i e d bearing on one's future work. Under the new scheme of things, however, it is to be hoped that the teacher, whether in school or in college, will have an opportunity to inculcate some of those intangible things which are not to he learned from the textbook. I have in mind, for example, imagination. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but imagination is the father. You may say that imagiuation cannot be taught, but surely it can be stimulated. Obviously this must be done within reason, and not carried to the extreme of enthusiasm displayed by the bald-headed optimist, who, after purchasing a bottle of hair-restorer in a drug store, stopped on his way out and remarked, "You better 'give me a comb and brush, also." One of the best ways of obtaining a background on which to project a fruitful imagination is by visiting industrial plants. Even better-because so conveniently concentrated-is the Chemical Exposition and the admirable courses of study which are given in connection with it. An hour spent in studying the "Children of Depression" arranged by the American Chemical Society would give one an excellent idea of the practical results of properly applied imagination. Imagination can he of service in two ways. It can foresee a need and develop a way of filling it. Or when a specific problem is presented by an industrialist or forced upou the attention by some process d i c u l t y , it can visualize possible ways of solving the problem. Next comes the task of formulating the problem and here, again, the student needs training, and training which he cannot get from the textbook. It must come from the teacher. The proper formulation of a problem requires clear thinking. Professor Bancroft has well emphasized the desirability of formulating every problem as a series of alternatives, one of which can he eliminated a t each step. This again requires imagination. At the start it is desirable to have the alternatives as groups of possibilitieseither this or that. As the work progresses, the alternatives are gradually reduced to finer limits until the determination of the last pair solves the problem. The successful chemist and chemical engineer of the
new era must not merely be able to solve problems presented to him, he must also be alert to recognize "situations" which need attention. For years we have used trees as a source of cellulose, hut have calmlyalmost without a thought, except when government inspectors objected-allowed the non-cellulosic portion to run to waste, in spite of the f a d that this amounted to almost as much of the tree as was recovered for useful purposes. There have, to be sure, been empirical attempts from time to time, to find industrial uses for evaporated sulfite waste liquor, but it is only within the last year or two that there has been in this country any systematic, fundamental study of lignin and related substances. Incidentally, the work which the Forest Products Laboratory is doing along these lines is of great importance and should yield results of which industry no doubt will be glad to take advantage. Increased emphasis should also be placed on report writing. It is unfortunately true that very few recent graduates are able to write a report which means anything to a business man. As a scientific article it may he fine, hut usually it does not tell the business man what he wants to know. It lacks the essentials of clear thinking, expressed in the minimum number of words, in good English. It probably goes without saying nowadays, that some time should be found in the curriculum for training in economics, presented in such a way that it becomes a working tool for the man when he gets into industry. He must not build a pulp mill and expect to run it with half of its water supply coming from city mains two miles away, just because a t the moment the city has a certain surplus beyond its own requirements. Nor must he think that the cost of a product is determined by adding up the prices of the various raw materials as calculated from quotations in some current trade paper. Today-thanks to the lessons taught us by the World War and to the ability of American chemists and American chemical industry-our country is very nearly self-contained. To realize this, one has only to compare our present situation as regards nitrogen, potash, rayon, dyes, medicinals, synthetic camphor, and synthetic rubber, with what it was in 1914 when we were dependent upon Chili for our nitrates, on Germany for our potash, dyes, and medicinals, and on Japan for our camphor. It now devolves upou the chemist to keep our country self-contained. Those who have been following recent economic trends realize that there is a universal tendency for all countries to become more and more self-contained. This means, in general, increasingly diminishing opportunities for foreign trade. In keeping with this trend i t is important that we keep in the vanguard of the technical procession. We are there now. We must stay there.
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