Rochester Institute of Technology - Techmila / Ramikin Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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Chemistry

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A student prepares the Fractional Still for operation Obtaining accurate weights of chemical compounds ued to induct students in the vast field of chemistry and to educate them for some of its jobs. The result has been an ever increasing number of specialists and technicians who hold a great variety of positions such as laboratory assistants, analytical chemists, technical salesmen, research chemists and many more responsi- ble jobs including those of supervisors and managers. The newest addition to the department is the Medi- cal Technology section, a full-time, two-year course to meet the demand for trained technicians, that has ac- companied the establishing of more and more hospi- tals, clinics. Public and Private health services. The chemistry student takes pride in his ability to keep abreast of recent developments in his field. He takes courses dealing with new optical and electrical instruments in chemical analysis and he is constantly introduced to the latest improvements and techniques as presented by the various journals of the American Chemical Society. Beakers, flasks, solution—all are necessary for a successful experiment Between his many sessions of tube tinkering and head scratching for a conceivable solution to a problem in calculus, the chemistry student can be found in the Eastman Lounge discussing almost anything from the days of Adam and Eve to the latest “Dennis the Men- ace'' cartoon. But it's also in these get togethers (where organic or inorganic makes no difference) that the student chem- ist continues to chase elements, combinations, and solutions. The freshman chemistry curriculum includes mathe- matics, physics, general chemistry and qualitative an- alysis, as well as psychology and English communica- tions. The junior and senior chemists plunge on into more advanced chemical problems, both in their R.I.T. classes and labs and in their co-operative jobs with companies that are tackling those problems for profit and loss. The candy and cokes, the work blocks and lab periods, spilled chemicals and stained clothes—all these will pass, but the unknowns in quantitative and quali- tatives, the lab techniques and the job know-how will all remain. T wenty-one

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Ralph T. Van Peursen Patricia Lloyd Herbert Ulrich James Wilson, Jr. Raymond Biehler Edwin Henrick Homer 1mes “What! A Turkish Bath! In the Chemistry lab? But—! What? Oh, so it's not a Turkish Bath after all! But what about all that steam? Where's it coming from?” These might be the surprised remarks of a stranger passing through the Chemistry Department while a fractional still is in the process of being drained; and he might get another surprise if he could hear the con- versation that passes between a couple of students in a Chemical Analysis Class, It goes something like this —“Hey! Look at this; isn’t it pretty? I wonder urhat it is. What does yours look like?” Statements like these depict the humorous side of the chemistry student at work. But, underneath all this is the real chemist; not just the boy or girl in the white lab coat who is constantly peering into a test tube. No, the real chemist is the man or woman who is forever searching for the unknown. He is the ever-working never tiring individual who is blazing the newf paths through a world full of unsolved mysteries, unwritten formulas, and equations. From the labs and classrooms of the Chemistry Department at R.I.T. come these in- dividuals wrho will solve some of these mysteries and write some of these formulas. Since it was first introduced as a full-time course at R.I.T. in 1918, the Chemistry Department has contin- A student carefully checks the reading of a buret during an experiment T wenty