Columbia University School of Engineering - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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The 1933 COLUIMBIA ENGINEER COLUMBIA'S ENGINEERING TRADITION By JAMES KIP FINCH HER'E can be no doubt that engineering education in early days was based on the apprentice system. Perhaps the first modern engineering school was that established in 1702 at Freiberg in Saxon, Germany, as a consequence of the mining revival which had begun there in the late Renaissance. Even earlier, in 1660, Riquet in France undertook to establish a school to train men for his famous Canal du Midi, but the greatest of modern engineering schools was the famous French Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, or School of Bridges and Highways, established under Trudaine in 174--l-. This great school is of interest to all engineers and of particular interest to American engineers for our earlier American engineer- ing schools, reflecting the liaison of the Revolution, were patterned largely on the French plan. The Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees was developed and grew largely under the able directorship of the famous stone bridge expert, Perronet. VVith the French Revolution, however, there came a glorification, almost a deification, of science and the famous old school was all but absorbed in the new movement. Scientific men rather than engineers had control. France lost the unquestioned engineering lead- ership she had enjoyed to the Great Britain of Watt, Telford, Rennie, and the Stephensons. Nevertheless, up to this period, engineering had been almost entirely an art and these French scientific-engineering teachers of the hrst years of the Nine- teenth Century-men like De Prony, Navier and, later, St. Venant-were the pioneers of the new scientihc technique in engineering which is basic to modern engineering practice. They gave to the French schools this distinctly scientific- engineering viewpoint. The first school in the United States to teach engineering was West Point, founded in 1803 as a training school for the Engineer Corps. lts teaching tradition was largely based on the French scheme of a sound basic training in mathematics, physics and the natural sciences. Several other schools came along in the period before Columbia embarked on engineering education in 1864-the first mining school in the United States. But at Columbia renewed emphasis was placed on the same principle of a sound basic training in science for the engineer-what we have characterized as the French tradition. Professor Eggleston and other pioneers at Columbia studied at the Ecole des Mines and their teaching was strongly influ- enced bv their French contacts. We know that this recognition of the importance of science as a tool in engi- neering still persists on Nlorningside. Who has not struggled with calculus, chem- istry or Physics 9? Thus we must take our hats off to the ancient Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, and I hope that when you are in Paris you will walk up the narrow Rue des Saintes Peres on the south side of the Seine and step into the courtyard and hall of this shrine of engineering education. Beautiful marble busts of Perronet and his successors recall a tradition and personalities which should be cherished by all engineers. Needless to say, America was not willing to wait for Columbia to turn out the engineers she needed in building her earliest engineering works. In fact, Columbia did not wait until 1864 to turn out engineers. There are famous names in the Columbia engineering tradition long before the School of Mines opened its doors at the Maison du Punk in 49th Street. In 1768 John Stevens had graduated from Kings College-the Columbia of pre- revolutionary days. He was the founder of the Stevens clan of Hoboken and a pioneer of transportation by land and water. Still later, in 1809, there graduated James Renwick, friend of Washington lrving and professor at Columbia. He acted Forly-Illrfr

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The 1933 COLl.'iWBI.J ENGINEER as advisor for many engineering works, including the famous liflorris Canal, and as expert counselor to the engineers of the day who needed mathematical or mechanical assistance or just good engineering advice. ln 1823 Horatio Allen left the old col- lege halls, then located just west of the present Woolxvorth Building. A few years later he brought over from England the first full size locomotive used in America and operated it on the tracks of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. Alfred XV. Craven graduated in 1829 and later took up the task of operating through twenty troublesome years the first Croton water supply of New York City. Pinallv we should mention VVm. Mitchell Gillespie of the Class of 1834, whose book on surveying was the standard text for almost half a century. Since the establishment of the School of Mines in 1864- and the civil engineer- ing course in 1869, there has been a long record of distinguished service and achieve- ment by alumni of Columbia. 1 cannot mention by name all the mining engineers who have made Columbia's name known in mining centers the world over. Among the mining geologists there come to mind R. D. Irving, '69, who was a pioneer geologist in the Lake Superior area, Bailey VVillis, '78, interpreter of the earth's structure, and our own Uncle Jimmy Kemp, '8-l, who was an expert on ore deposits and a joy to all his friends. John A. Church. '67, whom l knew as a boy, was always my ideal of the American mining engineer, a forceful and imposing personality. He was the main- spring of the great Comstock lode. J. Parke Channing, '83, transported Lake Superior methods into the Southwest, and was a pioneer in the improvement of the conditions of mine workmen. Columbia mining engineers went all over the world and among other notable wanderers was T. H. Leggett, '79, who carried American mining methods to the great South African Rand. The American mining industry has many examples of Columbiazation, such as that due to the work of Aldrige, '87, who has made America supreme in the sulphur industry. Among the metallurgists there are many alumni who have made notable con- tributions to the development of modern metallurgical processes. Devereaux, '78, in the cyanide process, Hone, '79, in the metallurgy of zincg Klepetko, '80, in cop- per blast furnace practiceg Wa.lker, '83, also in copper refining, Dwight, '85, in sintering fine ores, are but a few among many Columbia men in this Held. Nor should we forget Moldenke, '85, who made a modern science out of the ancient art of cast irong Monell, '96, of iron and nickel fame, or Mattheyvs, '95, a pioneer in the development of corrosive resistant alloys. ln civil engineering, Columbia men recall that General William Barclay Par- sons, '82, built New York's land America'sj first subway, that Daniel E. Moran, '84, is dean of American Foundation experts, and that Charles G. Curtis, '81, invented the Curtis turbine. We are particularly proud, however, of our younger graduates-Steinman, '09, the suspension bridge expert, Beggs, '10, Professor at Princeton, who knows all about stresses, Grover Loening, '12, whose amphibian plane was a pioneer in this field, and Gavin Hadden, '12, who has been called by Pennsylvania, Cornell and Brown to show them how to build stadiums. The establishment of mechanical engineering came later at Columbia but the mechanical engineering student of today can easily find among these younger alumni men whose careers exemplify that ideal of progress and service for which our school stands. Pigott, '03, assisted Curtis in the development of his turbine, and is now director of the famous shipyards at Clydebank in Scotland. Pond, of the same class, is manufacturing manager of Pratt and Whitneyf, one of the pioneer, and still one of the greatest, American Hrms of tool builders. ln this modern age of power it is natural that many of our alumni should turn to the problems not only of central station but also of gas and oil power. Another Pigott, this time '06, has established a reputation in this field, and there are many others including lVIyers and Sage of the CIHSS 01' 1901- fC'0lI1'.'lllll'fi on page 55j Forty-four