Henry Howard

Background

Howard was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachussets, in 1868. He was the son of Alonzo Potter Howard, a chemical company executive, and Emma Babcock Howard.

Education

He attended the Boston Latin School and the School of Mechanic Arts before entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1885. Since MIT offered no degree in chemical engineering, Howard enrolled as a special student, and MIT agreed to set up a series of courses for him, although these did not qualify him to receive a degree. Nevertheless, he called himself an alumnus of MIT when he left in 1889 and was especially proud to be elected to the corporation of MIT in 1911. He was instrumental in establishing the school's wind tunnel and aeronautical courses in 1913, although his primary interests lay elsewhere.

Career

Howard grew up close to the sea, and sailing became an early passion. During his business career he became one of the leading yachtsmen of the New England area and made important social contacts with yachtsmen in Europe. The sea became his letter of introduction, he later said, and a lifetime of yachting opened doors for him in European industries (as well as chancelleries) that would otherwise have remained closed.

After leaving MIT, Howard joined the Merrimac Chemical Company (later a subsidiary of the Monsanto Company), of which his father was a vice-president. He soon proved himself both inventive and innovative. In 1893 his new process for making sulfuric acid increased production by up to 40 percent. He proved the efficiency of his procedure by running the equipment himself for twenty-four hours, convincing reluctant workmen that it could be done without overtaxing them physically, while earning them increased wages. In the same year, Howard traveled to Russia to investigate the new Bayer process for producing pure hydrate of alumina from bauxite. As a result of his trip Merrimac received the first license for the Bayer process issued in the United States. Howard was promoted to superintendent in 1896 and was a vice-president of Merrimac from 1902 to 1920.

By 1897 Howard had become interested in the development of a new contact process for the production of sulfuric acid. With characteristic energy he organized a New England section of the American Society of Chemical Industry and became chairman. With the help of professional contacts from the New England section he was invited to visit plants in England and Germany, where yachting acquaintances sponsored special tours into jealously guarded sectors of the German chemical industry. Information acquired from these visits contributed to Merrimac's leadership in sulfuric acid production techniques. Howard's yachting association with Alfonso XIII of Spain later aided the company's access to supplies of inexpensive Spanish pyrites, used in the production of sulfuric acid. When the pyrites created difficulties in the burners, Howard developed the "Howard dust chamber, " which was widely used in the United States, Germany, and Belgium.

During World War I, Howard was on the chemical committees of the Council of National Defense and the War Industries Board, and he spearheaded an ambitious program to recruit and train personnel for the burgeoning merchant marine. Changes in the ownership and management of Merrimac in 1920 led Howard to resign. He then accepted a new position in charge of research and development for the Grasselli Chemical Company in Cleveland, Ohio, a post he held until 1927. From 1927 to 1930 he was a consulting engineer to Grasselli (later acquired by du Pont) and then maintained a practice as an independent consulting engineer for most of the rest of his life. His eighty-nine patents covered a broad spectrum of chemical processes.

He died in Cambridge, Massachussets.

Achievements

• In World War II he was instrumental in securing plans and models for advanced versions of the Swedish Bofors antiaircraft gun. In April 1951 Howard was awarded the Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry, although a stroke prevented him from accepting it in person.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Charting My Life

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Membership

He maintained active professional ties with numerous chemical societies, and was president of the Manufacturing Chemists' Association of the United States and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Connections

Howard married Alice Sturtevant, a distant cousin, on September 5, 1896. He was a gifted pianist, and he and his wife sang in a number of choral groups. He also presided over a family orchestra – he had five children – and maintained an extensive library of choral and piano music throughout his life.

Father:

Alonzo Potter Howard

Mother:

Emma Babcock Howard

Spouse:

Alice Sturtevant

References

• Article: Southward Ho! In the 'alice" Author of the Yacht Alice