Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn - Polywog Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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7 refiiclenf 5 ezifiage N ADDRESSING the class of 1960, I do so with feelings of respect and almost envy. As you go forth into the seventh decade of this century, you go into a world revolutionized by scientists and engineers, a world where scientific discoveries and engineering application have multi- plied exponentially over the last two hundred years and are continuing at this rate. Many of you in your four years at the Polytechnic have studied areas of human knowledge that were undreamed of when I was a young man. Many of you had the .advantage of an educa- tional program which has been, more and more, oriented toward scientific engineering, towards a firm and solid foundation in the fundamental laws of science, followed by thorough exposure to the engineering sciences. You took part in your undergraduate years in the most forward physical move in the history of the Polytechnic. You were the men who began your undergraduate years on Liv- ingston Street and finished your studies in Rogers Hall. But while you had the advantage of a truly Fine education imparted by an outstanding faculty, you missed some of the nicities of a fine physical plant - e.g., a gymnasium, a Student Union Build- ing. I can assure you that in this coming decade, as you return to alumni gatherings, you will see a truly Greater Polytechnic, a Poly that will grow educationally as it has grown in your years here, and a Poly that will possess a physical plant commensurate with its academic greatness. And so you go into the world as a Poly-educated scientist or engineer. Yet you should view humanity as natural white light which, when passed through a prism, is resolved into a rich and Varied spectrum of colors. You must realize that it is the sum total of them all that gives us white light. Similarly, we have a spectrum of professions and occupations, of atti- tudes and behavior patterns, of traits and personalities, the sum of which is synthesized into humanity. The basis of our democracy is the belief that all persons should have the right, the opportunity, the obligation, and the actual habit of exploring values for themselves, planning and living their own lives. If we recognize this cardinal principle of democracy, we must at once admit that there are many ways to a happy life, many avenues to individual satisfaction. VVe must admit also that all should know something about these many ways of life, not by mere hearsay, but by individual ex- perience! Only if we have been exposed to this marvelous variety of human interests and efforts can we learn to appreciate the richness of humanity within which our professions represent only one sector. If we, as scientists and engineers, are to exert the leadership that is expected of us, we must aspire to the most mature set of values we can develop. We must come to see man's arts and sciences - the beauty of his poetry, the depths of his philosophy, the aspirations of his religions, his complex history, the multitude of political and economic theories - as integral parts of a broad and beau- tiful spectrum, whose synthesis leads to genuine tolerance and human understanding. ERNST WEBER President

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THOMAS L. DONAHUE

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ww ,J 4 W--....... DR. ERNST WEBER