A n American Contemporary ·
W a r d Vinton Evans ο Ν the desk of Ward Vinton Evans, now professor of chemistry in Loyola University, Chicago, there is a motto: "Anyone w h o never does more than h e is paid for will never get paid for more than h e does." T h e man behind the desk has paid more than lip service to the principle, for not only has he earned his salary as a professor, but he has always been willing to contribute extracurricularly to his university, to his civic obligations, and to t h e de velopment of his students beyond the classroom. "If only I could teach young people that when they go to work they should work toward the objective of doing a job well, instead of merely trying to get ahead, they would not only get ahead faster, but would produce a lot more," Evans will expound when approached on his philosophy of work. H e is a firm believer in the idea that the people w h o make the world go 'round are those whose vocations are their avoca tions—and he has lived accordingly. His vocation is teaching and h e has certainly carried it far beyond the re quired minimum and made it a hobby as well. Evans has found retirement incom patible with his nature. A few years ago, after he had retired from the chairmanship of the department of chemistry in Northwestern University and had finished his work of organizing chemistry departments for American Army universities in Shrivenham, Eng land, and Biarritz, France, he decided to retire to his country home near Lan caster, Pa., to hunt and fish. H e hadn't b e e n settled long when he received a telegram from Father Finnegan, of Loyola, asking him to come there to teach. He assured his wife that he would have none of this and set out for the village store to wire a refusal. The quarter-mile walk gave him time for contemplation. By the time he had reached the store, his na ture had got the better of his first decision and he wired Father Finnegan that he would be there soon. A Trolley Conductor Ward Evans was born in Rawlinsville, Pa., a small town near Lan caster, of parents of limited means. He says he whitewashed fences and picked blackberries in the summer and caught skunks in the winter to get spending money. H e went to the public school in Rawlinsville, then bridged the gap between grammar school and college
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with two 14-week terms in Franklin and Marshall Academy. Because of this h e entered Franklin and Marshall College under special conditions. From the start, his record was such that his conditional admission was never men tioned. During college he helped his financial condition b y working as a conductor on a trolley line out of Lan caster; in summers h e worked the run from Broadway to Sheepshead Bay. First Teaching Position At Township High School Immediately on finishing college, he became a teacher, starting in the local Bart Township high school. T w o years later, he applied at Mohegan Lake Military Academy for a position as mathematics instructor. He learned that the school was considering another man whom he thought superior. H e re ported this opinion to the president of the school, who then suggested that Evans teach chemistry and physics. H e accepted and promptly went to Columbia University for summer school to learn more about chemistry. There he also learned that chemistry was more to his liking than was mathematics. Evans continued his work at Co lumbia while teaching at Mohegan. This required his commuting over a 90 mile round trip for morning classes in the university in time to appear before 1:00 P . M . classes at Mohegan. but h e managed successfully. Later h e concentrated on Columbia for t w o years to finish the Ph.D. in 1916, under J. L. R. Morgan and remained an addi tional year as Harriman Fellow, then became an instructor at Northwestern University. After only a year at Northwestern, Evans entered the Army and worked in the testing of high explosives until January 1919, when he returned to Northwestern as an assistant professor. He continued there and was made head of the department in 1942. At North western he established an admirable reputation as teacher. Not only were his lectures clear, incisive, and thorough, but he had a warm interest in his students. A nearly constant stream of students, from freshman to graduate, came into his office where he sat at a desk stacked high with journals, old examinations, and unopened mail. Even his harsh words were appreciated and it is said that some of his flunkees are among his most ardent admirers. In addition he carried on research. In this phase of his work he dealt in the
JULY
17,
1950
greater part with the ionic properties of solutions of Grignard reagents, meas urement of electrical conductance, transference, and decomposition, as well as the electrolysis of these agents. Other interests included explosives, chemiluminescence, etherates of inorganic salts, and properties of refrigerating gases. Work with Students Includes More Than Instruction Teaching alone could not contain all of the interests of "Doc" Evans in the development of students at Northwest ern. H e was chairman of the Student Publishing Co., which produced the student daily paper, humor and literary magazines, and the year book to the tune of $40,000 profit during Evans' 20 years of service with them. While en gaged in this activity, the university also made him chairman of the athletic com mittee. Although now retired he still takes an interest in athletics and has seats on the 50-yard line for football games at Dyche Stadium. He has many accomplishments, but he considers his greatest his establish ment of V. N. Ipatieff as a research pro fessor at Northwestern, with the col laboration of Gustav Egloff, thus mak ing it possible for the great Russian scientist to remain in the U. S. Evans has a legendary reputation as a court witness on explosives. It is said that he will work only with a case which he considers to be in the right and that great difficulties are in store for the lawyer bold enough to take the oppo site side. He says that his hobbies are teaching and fishing, but he enjoys hunting and the outdoors generally. He and Mrs. Evans live in Evanston with their daughter and two sons, but usually spend some time in the summer at their home among the old haunts near Lancaster. ACS Activities He is quite active in the AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY,
having
held
the
chairmanships of both the Chicago Section and the Division of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. He has been a national councilor for 20 years. His civic duties and interests have been many. H e was state gas officer for the Office of Civilian Defense in the Chicago metropolitan area and has served the city in many legal cases where explo sives were involved. The Chicago chap ter of the American Institute of Chemists honored him with its Honor Scroll in 1946. His principal concern at present is reorganization of the chemistry de partment of Loyola, where he serves as acting chairman. Close to his patriotic interests is work on a committee of the Atomic Energy Commission.
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