September
20,
1925
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING
CHEMISTRY
5
W h y I Became a Chemist The circumstances or desires which impelled these men to make chemistry their life work are here set forth. Members of the A. C. S. are invited to contribute to this feature.
W. A. Noyes From the time when a t the age of nine or ten I listened to the recitations of my sisters who were being taught "natural philoso p h y " from a textbook without experiments in a district school in Iowa, I have always had a very great interest in science. A year or two later I heard four popular lectures on chemistry given a t Independence, Iowa, by a professor of the old Chicago University, and soon after that began to read textbooks of chemistry and to t r y such experiments as were possible with very little equipment. When I entered college I gave my first two years to Latin, Greek, German, and mathematics, but during my junior and senior years I spent all the time that I could find in the chemical laboratory, and began to read chemical books extensively, both in English and in German. My interest in the subject was such t h a t it was entirely natural to continue in chemistry as my permanent profession.
Charles L. Reese As a boy I picked up a piece of granite and observed that it consisted, apparently, of three different substances which could be separated from each other. I had enough inborn curiosity to want to know what t h e individual crystals were made of, and how. This led to an interest in chemistry and the pursuit of the subject in college, and the inspiration received from such men as J. W. Mallet, F . P. Dunnington, and W. G. Brown led me to pursue the study in a professional way. I t is interesting to think t h a t besides the analytical answer to m y original question, t h e ultimate answer has so nearly been attained by recent developments in regard to the structure of the atom and constitution of matter.
Charles M. A. S tine I had the great good fortune, about 1900, to sit under the instruction of a splendid teacher of chemistry and mineralogy in a small college. Dr. E. S. Breidenbaugh, of Gettysburg College, knew how to teach chemistry in such fashion as to arouse the student's interest and lead him to an appreciation of the beauties of the orderly classifications of this science, as well as t o an intelligent curiosity about the wonders of its new and only partially explained and little understood discoveries. I ain quite certain t h a t it was his sympathetic and interested attitude toward t h e callow youngsters, who frequented his laboratories, and his beautifully clear and concise methods of leading up to an orderly understanding of such classics for the beginner in chemistry as Remsen's small textbook on organic chemistry which led me to choose chemistry as a profession. We chemists are too much inclined to overlook the extent of our indebtedness to such men as these who are big enough to hold their enthusiasms and continue year after year conscientiously to maintain wonderfully high standflrHs in their methods of teaching in the small colleges of the country. I might dodge the question which you put to me in the form of " W h y I Became a Chemist' because of the undemonstrated premise in the form of the question, b u t there is no doubt a t all in my mind about the quality and the quantity of the chemistry which these first instructors of mine had a t their disposal and were willing to take the trouble and pains to pass on in an attractive wrapper to us youngsters. I t may be t h a t later training and post-graduate instruction have had much to do with "why I became a chemist" if "became" and "chemist" are proper words to use in this connection; but there is no doubt a t all as to the proper answer to the question of " W h y / chose chemistry for a profession."
D. B. Key es M a n y years ago when I started in as a freshman at what is now t h e University of New Hampshire I had in mind to get into electrical engineering, but when I entered I was told t h a t Dr. Charles L. Parsons was running a very select course in chemistry and t h a t he picked the six " b e s t " men from the freshman class. In other words, this chemical engineering course was a sort of a prize to which every freshman looked forward. I was also told by my fellow classmates t h a t I didn't have either the brains or t h e ability t o " m a k e t h e grade." Being quite normal and human I attempted to show m y
friends that they were wrong in their judgment, and as time went on I found t h a t it was a very pleasant experience to listen to Dr. Parsons' lectures. At times it was almost thrilling. When I had eventually shown my friends t h a t they were entirely erroneous in their judgment I was too full of the enthusiasm which had been generated by Dr. Parsons to quit. This, in brief, is the whole story. Later on, if I finally succeed in being a credit to the profession it will be due primarily to the sales ability of Dr. Charles L. Parsons. If, on the other hand. I fail I will attribute my start to the very human desire of beating somebody else.
E. V. McCollum In my boyhood days and through high school I had ambitions to enter the medical profession and selected my work in the University of Kansas during my undergraduate days so as to include as much pre-medical work as possible. Realizing that chemistry would be a strong ally of medicine I did as much work as was optional in audition to the required courses in the chemistry department, and was sufficiently enthusiastic over chemistry to abandon the idea of studying medicine and become a chemist. I had no plans further than to specialize in organic chemistry. For this purpose I went to Yale in 1904, and during the next two years prepared a thesis under the direction of Dr. T. B. Johnson. When I reached the point of getting a P h . D . degree I met with great difficulties in securing a position which was a t all attractive, and so remained an additional year a t Yale, studying physiological chemistry and experimental physiology. In 1907 I had three positions offered to me, all of the same kind and all in agricultural experiment stations. These were at t h e Universities of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri. On Doctor Mendel's recommendation I selected Wisconsin. Their desire for a physiological chemist was based upon the fact t h a t they were engaged in nutrition problems there which demanded the services of a physiological chemist. The nature of m}' duties at t h e Agricultural College at Wisconsin determined the line of work which I have developed, namely, research in nutrition. If I had gotten an attractive offer in 1906 to teach organic chemistry with some prospect of time for cooking up a little research I should doubtless now be numbered among the organic chemists of the country, although possibly pretty well down in the list.
Carl Haner On graduating from the DeWitt Clinton High School i:« New York, I was fortunate in winning a scholarship which enabled me to go to college. At t h a t time my ambition was to become a civil engineer b u t a t the advice of my father, I decided to get my A.B. first. During this period the chemistry course interested me most, but I still leaned toward engineering—something that looked productive and could be felt and seen. When the time came for starting my engineering course, funds were low and I was forced to go to work. I eventually became a salesman for a wholesale house dealing in gums, resins, shellacs, dextrine, and other semi-chemical materials. This work brought me in contact with factories of all kinds and I soon learned t h a t most of them were looking for men with both chemical and engineering knowledge for the operation of their plants. This appealed to me and when m y financial situation took a turn for the better, I went back to Columbia and took the recently formed chemical engineering course.
Townes R. Leigh For the following reasons, I chose chemistry as my profession: 1. It made the strongest appeal to me of all subjects I studied as an undergradup.te. 2. The creative nature of chemistry endeared it to me the more during my graduate work. 3. The subject was ever satisfactory, interesting, and satisfying, yet inspiring one to "carry o n " constantly. 4. The curiosity and investigation it aroused in me got such a hold of me t h a t it dominated me.
