Cooper Union College - Cable Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 19 text:

Professor Albert Ball After thirty-seven years of continuous service to The Cooper Union Professor Ball is going to retire. During this time he has made physics a living subject to some 10,000 students. His extreme clarity of thought and ability to teach has enabled him to present the principles of physics to others lucidly. He is a born teacher possessing the necessary qualities of patience, understanding and insight. A His imagination and ability to visualize things have enabled him to devise many unique experiments. Much of the equipment in our physics laboratory, such as the three way ammeter switch and the apparatus for determining the coefiicient of volumetric expansion of a gas, is a product of his ingenuity. He has also developed much unique apparatus for lecture demonstrations. It has been said, and truly so, Professor Ball always puts on a good showfl When the Physics Department moved to the Hewitt Building in 1912, Professor Ball became its head. Since that time he has run the department like one big happy familyf' He preferred to have his desk in the same oliice with the other professors, who were free to see him any time any place. Always carrying the heaviest load and never asking anyone to do what he would not do himself, he has won the admiration of all his subordinates. Professor Ball has always been proud of his former students. Dean Bateman was one of his first, and Professor Merritt, and Messrs. Bossert, Faralla, and Koenig of the Physics Department were others. Students who are willing to learn and to work hard to do so appeal to him and he has always been ready to listen sympathetically to their problems. The Cooper Union can -be proud of the record that Professor Ball has made here. He has only missed three lectures in thirty-seven years, at which times his health was such that he could not possibly attend without serious consequences. Once he even delivered a lecture to the Night School Freshmen just before going to the hospital for an operation. In his long stay at The Cooper Union Professor Ball has earned a place in the hearts of all those connected with this institution. The day he leaves will be a sad day for all who have known him, but he will be remembered in the years to come along with Peter Cooper, Abram S. Hewitt and his pre- decessor, Professor Anthony.

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The freshman class, the class which has years ahead of it in which to attempt to unravel the yarn of engineering knowledge has now managed to achieve some small fraction of that. This pre-engineering stage although elementary is a rather indicative one. It is indicative in the respect that those who pass through it smoothly and successfully are more than likely to find the final years to their liking. On the other hand those who cannot endure the pressure or lind the work inconsistent with their expecta- tions had better look to other fields. Yes, it is here that the engineer- ing' student is made or broken. The freshmen have been, we are sure, quite impressed by the school. Many of them being of the intelligent sort, had found things very easy in their high school courses and expected their engineering work to come with that same ease, conceding, albeit, the necessity of some little application. They were surprised indeed. Others, who, perhaps, did equally well in secondary school but worked to do so, buckled down when they came to Cooper and really gave it the works. They are the one who would come out all right anywhere, And there is, I believe, another gifmup, those who were never the best of the lot in high school-they may have been pretty good. They are not perhaps tops even now. They have their troubles but they have a kind of intellectual courage and fight and when they stumble in the race for education they straighten up again and carry on. These, l believe, are the men of which Cooper is charac- teristic. They are the sturdy libre of which it is made. The laggards have not been able to keep up the pace, these serve to fill up the mob. It is into this pattern that the pre-engineering students must make their place. REE GI EERI

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Fif-95 Yea' Day TCCI1- 0f7iC6fS First Year Night Tech. Officers P- Pistfacky SCCL, R- Mallfredi, -Seated-R. F. Peterson, H. D. Pres-, H- Pines, Vifle-PICS-, 5- Ohori. Standing-J. Schmid. Schatz, Treas. FRESHMAN After going through one year with this gang of Freshmen, we feel that wehave fully graded and candled its members, and may pronounce them despite their failings to be good eggs. From the impression given by the very diflicult entrance exams we expected our fellow students to be of very high type intellectually. They are this, though not however cut and dried bookworms, but all regular fellows out to work, and always on hand for a good laugh. We may claim the distinction of being the first Freshman class in The Cooper Union to have its beginning at Green Engineering Camp .... The purpose of the Camp as expressed by Prof. Watson was to give the Fresh- men a chance to become acquainted with their fellow students and future instructors in an informal and easy atmosphere of play and good fellowship. In this respect it was a tremendous success. We all came to know each other in a way that could never have been possible under the usual conditions of admission. The main part of the program was a closely contested sports tourna- ment, won by the men of Professor lVlacDonald's group. After witnessing the tournament we have come to the conclusion that The Cooper Union athlete may be defined as uone who walks. ln the evening we listened to some very enlightening talks about the engineering profession and the hard work we were expected to do. i The first night we all stayed awake until pretty late and thought nothing of it. But when on the second night, after a strenuous clay, we all wanted to go to sleep, some fellows decided to exchange some of their choice anec- dotes. Chaos ruled until one genius hit on a bright idea. He started to