Willis R. Whitney
Whitney, Willis R.
Willis R. Whitney was born in Jamestown, New York, on 22 August 1868, the son of John J. and Agnes (Reynolds) Whitney. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1890, and in 1896 he received his Ph.D. from Leipzig.
In 1900, Whitney became the director of the Research Laboratory of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, NY. This laboratory, one of the earliest of this kind in the U.S., embodied the application of science to industry, and gained a world-wide reputation for the quality of its work and the importance of its results. As described in the company's annual report of 1902, the laboratory was "to be devoted exclusively to original research," and, the report added, "It is hoped by this means that many profitable fields may be discovered." Whitney understood very well that this meant commercial products as well as the pursuit of fundamental knowledge.
The laboratory soon proved the value of the application of organized research to industry. In electric lighting, the first radical improvement in the carbon incandescent filament, since Edison first produced it, was due to Whitney's personal work at the laboratory. The "metallized'" filament, or GM lamp, which he developed and which embodied a now form of carbon, gave twenty-five percent more light for the same wattage than the standard carbon filament lamp. Millions of these new lamps were sold in a single year. A little later the laboratory made a still greater contribution to electric lighting, by solving the problem of mechanically working tungsten, and taught the world how to make the drawn wire which has given the tungsten lamp its universal application. The development of wrought tungsten, moreover, was followed by several important applications worked out entirely in the laboratory. Tungsten contacts largely replaced platinum in spark coils, magnetos, and relays, and tungsten targets have replaced platinum in X-ray tubes.
Another success of the laboratory was the Coolidge X-ray tube, which superseded all earlier types. It was developed in sizes up to 50 milli-amperes at 250,000 volts and down to the dental tube so small that it and its transformer are both enclosed in an oil-filled metal casing small and light enough to be swung on a bracket in the dentist's office, or carried like a small handbag.
The story of the GE laboratory, from its inception with a small staff, to its extraordinary development, was the story of Whitney's personal achievement. His broad scientific knowledge, his ability as a chemist, his resourcefulness in experiment, his energy and enthusiasm, inspired the all the work of the laboratory, while his magnetic personality created an spirit de corps in the staff which was a powerful factor for success.
Whitney was a member of countless institutions, among them the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Society of Electrochemical Engineers, the National Academy of Sciences, the British Institute of Metals, and the National Research Council. He received many awards and honors, such as the Willard Gibbs Medal in 1920, the Perkin Medal in 1921, and the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Social Sciences in 1928. In 1934, he was awarded the AIEE Edison Medal, "For his contributions to electrical science, his pioneer inventions, and his inspiring leadership in research." He passed away on 9 January 1958 in Schenectady, NY.
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