ROBERT HENRY THURSTON 42 1 



This work was undertaken with all the advantages which his 

 experience at the Naval Academy and at Stevens Institute had 

 naturally brought, and the constant advancement and improve- 

 ment of Sibley College as an educational power formed the sub- 

 ject of his unceasing and most strenuous efforts up to the very 

 day of his death. 



He also found time here for many important pieces of public 

 work and served on the U. S. Commission on pneumatic postal 

 equipment, the New York Commission on Voting Machines, 

 and the New York State Commission to report on a modern 

 rifle for the National Guard. 



As a writer he was most prolific, his published papers and 

 addresses numbering somewhere about 300. His most impor- 

 tant books are : 



Manual of the Steam Engine, two volumes, 1890-91 ; Manual 

 of Steam Boilers, 1890 ; Engine and Boiler Trials, 1890 ; His- 

 tory of the Steam Engine, 1878 ; Materials of Engineering, 

 three volumes, 1882-86; Friction and Lost Work, 1883. 



Professor Thurston also made several inventions, among 

 which many be mentioned : lamps burning magnesium, navy 

 signal apparatus, testing machines for iron and other metals, 

 testing machines for lubricants, and improvements in the steam 

 engine and in scientific and engineering apparatus. He also did 

 much work in scientific research and in the investigation of im- 

 portant engineering problems, among which maybe mentioned : 



The determination of the useful qualities of the alloys of 

 copper and tin, copper and zinc, and copper, tin and zinc. 



Studies of boiler explosions. 



Researches regarding the laws of friction and lubrication. 



Laws of variation of engine wastes and studies in the economy 

 of the steam engine. 



Professor Thurston was a member of the leading engineering 

 and scientific societies of this country and of Europe. He was 

 the first President of the American Society of Mechanical En- 

 gineers and succeeded himself for the following term as well. 

 He was three times Vice-President of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, Vice-President of the Ameri- 

 can Institute of Mining Engineers and Officer de Tlnstruction 

 Publique de France. 



Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., February, 1904. 



