Professor M. J. Golden. 259 
and fearless. He was loyal to his family, to his friends, to his Alma 
Mater, and last of all to himself. His feeling of loyalty to Purdue 
weighed heavily against flattering offers which would take him away. 
So he remained, striving with all his energy to make his department 
in the university do its work so well that there was no other anywhere 
doing it better. His constant aim was to co-ordinate the work of prac- 
tical mechanics with the needs of the employers of engineering gradu- 
ates. In this problem the interests in contact are many and varied, 
so that progress was necessarily slow; but every line of work in the 
department reflects his effort, which was tireless. 
Professor Golden was a Canadian by birth, having been born in 
Stratford, Can., November 17, 1862. He received his early education 
at Lawrence, Mass., and was for some time a special student at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For one year he was instructor 
in mechanical drawing at the high school at Hyde Park, Mass. He 
came to Purdue in 1884 as instructor in shop work. In 1894 he received 
his degree from Purdue University as a mechanical engineer. From 
1889 until June, 1916, he served as professor in practical mechanics at 
Purdue, and has been Director of the practical mechanics laboratory 
since 1907. In shop management and shop experiments he was intensely 
interested. On one trip east for a short period of time he began making 
experiments with ball bearings, and he is said to have been one of the 
first experimenters in that line. Upon his return these experiments 
were continued here, and valuable conclusions resulted from the data 
received from them. Keen appreciation of manufacturing conditions, fine 
perception and good judgment prompted Professor Golden in the de- 
velopment of his department, which increased in size and effectiveness 
under his guidance, becoming a model of its kind. His course of shop 
lectures was perhaps the best and most comprehensive in existence and 
proved of almost inestimable value to the young engineer; so much so 
that it is indeed seldom but that a returning alumnus speaks of his 
indebtedness for this work. 
His last notable work was in connection with the instruction in 
mechanical drawing. This work was developed to such a state that 
the results were highly satisfactory to both students and instructors, 
and by it the efficiency of this part of his department was very consid- 
erably increased. His educational work was more far-reaching than 
was generally known. He was the author of texts used in correspond- 
ence-school instruction. 
He spent a great deal of time in research, in collaboration with his 
sister, Mrs. Bitting, investigating microscopically the structure of wood. 
For this work he designed and built much special apparatus. His talents 
in photography lent themselves well to this work, the results of which 
