Background

Willis Rodney Whitney was born on August 22, 1868 in Jamestown, N. Y. , the son of John Jay Whitney, owner of the Jamestown Wood Seat Chair Co. , and Agnes Reynolds.

Education

He read widely, enjoyed outdoor pursuits, and learned both the craft of chairmaking and the use of a microscope. Undergraduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under chemist Arthur A. Noyes helped him choose chemistry as a career. He graduated with the B. S. in 1890. He studied physical chemistry under Wilhelm Ostwald at the University of Leipzig from 1894 to 1896. He received the Ph. D. there.

Career

He accepted an assistant instructorship in sanitary chemistry at MIT. He returned to MIT as instructor of theoretical chemistry. Whitney was an outstanding teacher and a good, but not a first-rank, researcher. His specialties were the chemistries of solutions, colloids, and corrosion. In 1896, Whitney declined an employment offer from the chemist Arthur D. Little. But he and Noyes took a subsequent consulting job, devising a process for reclaiming alcohol and ether at the Boston plant of the American Aristotype Co. Success of this project (returns to Whitney alone exceeded $20, 000) was followed in October 1900 by an offer from Edwin W. Rice, Jr. , vice-president of the General Electric (GE) Co. , of a research position in Schenectady, N. Y. Whitney agreed to take on a self-directed research program there for three days a week. Overcoming some initial skepticism, Whitney quickly proved that chemical research techniques (such as use of an electric furnace) could be highly useful in the electrical industry. By 1904 he was directing a staff of forty-one. In May of that year he moved to Schenectady and began devoting full time to GE. Although Whitney patented forty inventions (including the GEM lamp filament, a major commercial success), his main contributions were indirect. He did much of his work through his associates at the GE research laboratory, who included chemist Irving Langmuir and physicists William D. Coolidge, Albert W. Hull, and Saul Dushman. Not the least of his achievements was creating an institution responsive to the business needs of GE, yet with enough scientific freedom to attract top people. Outgoing and optimistic, Whitney had a paternalistic managerial style. "Come in, rain or shine, " read a sign above his always open door. He daily toured the laboratory, leaving administrative details to his capable aide, Laurence A. Hawkins. His private life was simple, spent largely pursuing such hobbies as collecting arrowheads or studying the habits of turtles. Although Whitney urged experiment and distrusted scientific dogma, his social and political views were conventional. He accepted public duties (serving, for example, on the Naval Consulting Board [1917-1919]) but did not seek them. He preached a creed of continuous and positive change through research and its technological applications in numerous speeches and articles from 1910 through 1929. Nevertheless, the center of Whitney's attention remained on the GE Research Laboratory, which he sought to develop into a unique institution on the boundry of science and industry. His success in doing this task has often been misinterpreted by those who see him as a champion of "pure" research. Actually he was a follower of Francis Bacon in his insistence on the usefulness of science. Within GE he made the full resources of his laboratory available for the solution of such practical problems as the perfection of the hermetically sealed refrigerator and the solution of mechanical problems of steam turbines. Also like Bacon, Whitney was a complete empiricist with a distrust of theoretical science. In the 1920's this enabled him to contribute unorthodox engineering concepts of much practical value (such as his highly successful 1921 suggestion to improve the efficiency of electrical generators by running them in a hydrogen atmosphere), but it also weakened the research laboratory by preventing it from participating fully in the theoretical advances that led ultimately to modern solid-state and nuclear physics. Nevertheless outstanding pure science, such as Irving Langmuir's Nobel Prize-winning work in surface chemistry, was possible under Whitney's policies. Evaluating Whitney's contributions to the achievements of his laboratory associates is virtually impossible, since he recorded few of his many suggestions and encouraging hints. Their major inventions during his 1904-1932 tenure as director of research included tungsten filaments for light bulbs, the modern X-ray tube, electronic devices for radio and industrial processes, improved metals and mechanical devices for the electrical industry, and the "gas-filled" lamp. Many of the practices he established have become basic to the research and development function in American industry, especially his policy of a heavy concentration on development work while granting wide research freedom to scientists of proven ability. Whitney was named a vice-president of GE in 1928. The business downturn of 1929-1932 caused a cutback in GE research expenditures. At the same time his never-robust health worsened. He sank into a deep depression, and in 1932 retired as director of research. Under a reduced work schedule his health and spirits recovered. He retained the honorary title of vice-president of research until 1941, and from 1933 through 1954 he maintained an office at the research lab and carried out experimental studies, most notably in the use of electromagnetic radiation in medical therapy. He ceased active work in 1954, and died in Schenectady.

Achievements

• His most important paper, "On the Corrosion of Iron" (1903), helped to establish that the principles governing the rusting of iron are the same as those governing the operation of an electric battery.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A text-book of electro-chemistry

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Elements of Electro-Chemistry

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Elements of Electro-Chemistry

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • The Elements of Electrochemistry

    (The Elements of Electrochemistry is an unchanged, high-qu...)

Membership

Whitney was member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Electrochemical Society and president (1911–1912), the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Metals, the National Research Council, the Advisory Committee to the National Bureau of Standards, the Naval Consulting Board, the Chemical Society and president (1909), the Board of Governors of Union College

Connections

On June 26, 1890, Whitney married Evelyn Jones of Jamestown; they had one daughter.

Father:

John Jay Whitney

Mother:

Agnes Reynolds

Spouse:

Evelyn Jones

References

• The world was his laboratory;: The story of Dr. Willis R. Whitney
• Willis Rodney Whitney: Pioneer Of Industrial Research