Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Technique Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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HENRY PAUL TALBOT gfg jrz -lQEXRY PALIL TALBOT was born in Boston on hlay 15, 1 B ly 1861. His boyhood, however, was spent in Holliston, y 2 hIass., where he attended the public schools and graduated W from the High School in 1881. The following autumn he Ldfgf entered the Institute with the intention of taking Course Y-c, as it was then called, the option leading to Industrial Chemistry. This plan he eventually carried out, and graduated with the well- known class of 1885, whose active interest in Technology affairs has placed its members foremost a.mong the alumni. Upon graduation NIL Talbot was offered an attractive commer- cial position, but since he had always been much interested in teach- ing,-even in school-days,-he chose to accept an assistantship in Analytical Chemistry. In this capacity he remained at the Insti- tute for two years, at the end of which time he was made an instructor. In 1888 he resigned his instructorship to go to Germany. He studied for two years at the University of Leipsic under Professor Johannes VVislicenus, and on August 4, 1890, took his doctor's degree Summa cum Laudef' In the fall of 1890 he returned to the Institute to resume his duties as instructor in Analytical Chemistry. He was married to Bliss Frances Emma Dukehart, of Baltimore, INIaryland, on the seventeenth of June, 1891. Dr. Talbot rose rapidly from his instructorship, and during the succeeding ten years was constantly advanced. After the resignation of Professor Thomas M. Drown, then in charge of the Department of Chemistry, to become President of Lehigh University, Professor Talbot was made responsible for the business and most of the other affairs of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Although virtually in charge, he was not officially appointed head of the department until 1901. This position Professor Talbot still holds. During his administration the courses have undergone many desirable changes. The most important of these is the conversion of the course in Chemical Engineering from a course designed prima- rily for the training of an engineer with some knowledge of chemistry, to one which provides for the training of a chemist with some knowl- edge of the fundamentals of engineering. As a branch of the de- ' E91

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rzcsui 54199.14 partmental work, the organization of the Research Laboratory of Applied Chemistry was due in a great measure to Dr. Talbot's mterest in the undertaking. lNIuch of Professor Talbotis published work has been along chem- ical lines, and includes, besides his doctor's thesis, his '5Quantitative Chemical Analysis, a small book on the '6Electrolytic Dissociation Theoryf' A Bibliography of the Analytical Chemistry of hfan- ganesef' and minor papers, chiefly in the field of Analytical Chem- istry. In addition to this he has delivered and published a number of addresses on various educational topics. including the teaching of chemistry in technical schools and the relations of such schools to the secondary schools. Professor Talbot. is a member of numerous scientific societies, in which he has occupied many positions of honor and importance. In the American Chemical Society he has taken a very active part, being a member of its Council from 1898 and of its Board of Editors from 1890 to the present time, chairman of the Division of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, 1900-11, and of the Section on Chemical Education, 1908-11, as well as a member of numerous important committees. Among the offices held by Dr. Talbot may be men- tioned: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Chairman of the Committee in charge of the C. INI. Wlarren Research Fundg and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of which association he was V ice-President and Chairman of the Section of Chemistry. In addition he holds membership in various other societies of lesser importance. I On educational questions Professor Talbot has long been recog- nized as an authority. For several years' he was Chief Examiner in Chemistry for the College Entrance Examination Board, and is at present a member of a commission to revise the college entrance requirement in chemistry. It is to his work as a teacher, however, that Professor Talbotfs most devoted service and interest is given. In spite of the many details of departmental administration, he has personally given the lectures in Inorganic Chemistry to-the First Year Class since 1902, and through his kindly personal interest he has placed himself in a position unusually close to the student body. Primarily a teacher, vet active in the advancement of science, Professor Talbot is a truei representative of the type of man of which the Institute may justly be proud. Iwi