Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 26 text:

THE AFTERMATH CLASS OF NINETEEN FIFTEEN William Warren Bird, B.S. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of Washburn Shops. “By George, I wonder where the mistake is! It surely isn’t evident upon the face of it.” These and many other expressions will long stay in our memory in connection with Professor Bird’s c ourse in Shop Management. Many of us have often wondered how many got the 120 out of a possible 100 in his final in Senior Mechanics and it is a fore¬ gone conclusion that if it had been 220 in¬ stead of 120 no more would have acquired an even 60; and, had it not been for a care¬ fully prepared note-book to raise the final mark, few of us would have survived without a make-up. It was always amazing how easy and sim¬ ple Professor Bird’s stickers were when solved by himself. Problems upon which we would work several hours and accomplish practic¬ ally nothing would be solved by him almost in quicker time than it would take us to read it. H is pleasing disposition and willingness to give good advice have won for Professor Bird the admiration of the students under him. Arthur Willard French, C.E. Professor of Civil Engineering. “When you go out on the job, if your boss is not a college man, he’ll think you’re a joke, and if he is a college man he’ll know you’re a joke.” You are not likely to get an over exaggerated opinion of yourself un¬ der Pa’s instruction, but you get the wisdom of plain common sense poured on you pro¬ miscuously. His occasional diversions from Structures and Arches to dwell upon some of his innumerable jobs or to benefit us by his practical philosophy are always a source of keen interest and appreciation, and, whether the job existed or not, the point was always there. The energy and zeal with which class after class works for him is as indicative of the estimation in which the students hold him as it is of his disciplinary ability. For the Civils really take a sincere delight in working for him. It may be an argument against the san¬ ity of the Civil, but it is an established fact. At all events it is certain that we, the Civils, hold that the mere privilege of know¬ ing the man is full justification of our little stay here at the “Stute.” t 22 ]

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WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Harold Babbitt Smith, M.E. Professor of Electrical Engineering. Although there are thousands of Smiths in this country and Schmidts abroad, Professor Smith is one of the genuines, and most of the rest are copies. But the name is very common by imitation and no copyright is available and so he is known best by the title “H. B.” It takes two pages to write down his “alphabet¬ ical tail,” but one would never guess what a distinguished man our chief is, did he not casually refer at times to “when I was en¬ gineer for this firm,” or “when we developed this device.” Then it is that we open our eyes and wonder how such a quiet, unobtru¬ sive man could have accomplished so much. Professor Smith is a graduate of Cornell, ’91 ; and since then has been Professor of Electrical Engineering at Arkansas State Uni¬ versity and Purdue. During our Senior year we have come more fully to appreciate his sincere friendship and help and we secretly wonder if we can emu¬ late this eminent engineer, a man of unusual breadth of view and with the admirable qualities of a perfect gentleman. Alexander Wilmer Duff, D.Sc. Professor of Physics. In the world of science. Dr. Duff’s posi¬ tion is indeed an enviable one. In 1 884 he was graduated from the University of New Brunswick, and in 1887 from the University of London. He received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1888 and the degree of Doctor of Science from the same institution in 1901. Before his advent as head of our Physics Depart¬ ment, he held similar positions at the Univer¬ sity of Madras, New Brunswick University and Purdue. And so, if our attitudes in A. Wilmer’s Sophomore Physics lectures (dear old Physics! !) were other than such a po¬ tentate in the world of science should com¬ mand, let it be ascribed only to our youth. Dr. Duff’s efforts with us must have been unusually discouraging, for they ended with his decision for a year’s study abroad, prob¬ ably to discover new methods of injecting knowledge into brainless media. Professor Duff will be remembered, then, as a true gentleman, thorough and self-contained, and a scientist of high eminence. [ 21 ]

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WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Orie William Long, Ph.D. Professor of Modern Languages. As members of the class of 1915, our di¬ rect acquaintance with Professor Long is not extensive. His work at the Institute did not begin until 1913, at which date he assumed charge of the department of Modern Lan¬ guages. In 1903 he received his A.B. at Centre College, and in I 906 he took up his work at Add-Ran College as Professor of Modern Languages there. In 1911 he received his A.M. at Harvard, and later in 1913, his Ph.D. During the years 1912 and 1913 he was instructor in German at M. I. T. His experience at this institution has led him to make some interesting com¬ parisons of the student life there and that at Worcester Tech. Since his advent to the Institute, the courses in the Department of Modern Languages have been made very strenuous and exacting. Although we have not had the opportunity to meet Professor Long in the classroom, very few of us have failed to become acquainted with him in other phases of Tech life, and we have thus come to admire and respect him. Alton Lincoln Smith, M.S. Professor of Drawing and Machine Design. The first time that we came into actual contact with Professor Smith was as a sub¬ stitute for “Reddy Mack” in Descriptive. Then later we sat before him again in Kinematics and Design. In spite of the hard courses which we have had under him, no one has any hard feeling against “A. L.” He has won the respect and friendship of all. He himself is a Tech man, which probably accounts for the fact that he never racks his brain to find little questions you are liable not to know, but always asks the big things you ought to know. He is always willing to give good advice and sometimes we get it without the asking, but never without good cause. Not believ¬ ing in kicking a fellow when he is down, Professor Smith devotes his entire interest in helping us conquer our weak points. Long may he live for the best interest of our Alma Mater. I