2 HENRY MARION HOWE— BURGESS ItoM0,M [v A ™xx£ 



essence of culture and learning which laid the foundation upon which was built the man so 

 fittingly described by Albert Sauveur when conferring upon him the John Fritz medal in 1917: 



Lover of justice and humanity; 



Public servant and public benefactor; 



Master of the English language; 



Loyal and devoted friend; 



Untiring and unselfish worker in an important field of science; 



Stimulating teacher, inspiring investigator and generous collaborator; 



Voyager in realms but dimly perceived by fellow workers; 



Lone explorer of fields destined to yield rich harvests to future generations; 



Man of genius, honored and loved the world over. 



As a boy, young Howe attended the famous Boston Latin School, from which he graduated 

 in 1865, then entering Harvard, where he remained until graduation in 1869, at the age of 

 21. During these years of his early education he seems to have followed his natural inclina- 

 tions toward sport and gayety. He was debonair, devoted to music and dancing, full of fun 

 and mischief; "he was never known to drink, or smoke, or consort with light company — 

 his fun was of a different order." One characteristic, which followed him all through his life, 

 was his love of playing practical jokes upon his friends and all who came in contact with him. 

 After being rusticated in his sophomore year at Harvard because of a boyish prank "the faculty 

 thought not appropriate," however, he began to realize he was wasting the great opportunity 

 of education, and from then on his time was not lost. In the fall of 1869 he entered the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology and there first revealed his capacity for hard work in the 

 field of science in which he was to become so distinguished- in his later years. In 1871 he 

 graduated with the degree of "graduate in the department of geology and mining engineering," 

 for which the institute substituted a few years later the title of "bachelor of science." 



With this liberal education as a basis, it was necessary for him to lay yet another foun- 

 dation — that of acquaintance with practice — and so we find him next in Troy, N. Y., a student 

 in the steel works. Here he worked hard, but it was not all drudgery, for his high spirits and 

 sense of humor soon made him a favorite in a place full of gayety such that his presence was 

 always in demand. 



When his practical studies in Troy were over, he began the work of his career as super- 

 intendent of the Bessemer Steel Works, Joliet, in 1872, and of the Blair Iron & Steel Co., 1873-74. 

 For the next five years he devoted himself to the metallurgy of copper, and improved copper 

 smelting in Chile for the heirs of Augustus Hemenway, and then designed and built the works 

 of the Orford Copper & Nickel Co., at Capeltown and Eustis, in the Province of Quebec and 

 at Bergen Point, N. J., 1879-1882. This latter year he was manager of the Pima Copper- 

 Mining & Smelting Co. of Arizona. As a result of his practical studies during these years 

 in the field of improved copper smelting, there appeared from time to time teclmical papers 

 on the subject, culminating with his first book, Copper Smelting, published in 1SS5. 



It was while with this last-mentioned company that Doctor Howe made a rather startling 

 decision. With prospects for a singular success financially, for becoming a leader in the indus- 

 trial world, he deliberately chose, at the age ot 35, to turn away from the practical to the 

 theoretical side of his profession. He must have realized, from questions arising out of his 

 practical work, that there was a real need in the metallurgical world — that of bringing cosmos 

 out of apparent chaos of nonrelated facts. 



So he made the change by establishing himself in Boston as a consulting metallurgist 

 and at the same time a lecturer on metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 where he remained until 1897, when he was called to the chair of metallurgy at Columbia 

 University in New York City. In 1913 he retired from active work at Columbia and became 

 professor emeritus, when he declined as far as practicable all professional business, devoting 

 himself exclusively to research in Green Peace Laboratory which he established at his home 

 in Bedford Hills and maintained until his death, with the aid of one assistant. 



The year 1893 also was marked by his election to the presidency of the American Institute 

 of Mining Engineers, an honor and a task given only to men of distinction and accomplishment 



