A WORLD OF CHANGE 



By Edward R. Weidlein 

 Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



The most interesting address that I could deliver to our radio audi- 

 ence would be to pick out at random from this distinguished group of 

 chemists individual persons and describe their work to illustrate the 

 application of science which has transformed the world. Here are 

 gathered scientists from all parts of the United States, as well as 

 representatives from foreign countries, to exchange ideas, and in their 

 presence it would not take one long to realize that something startlingly 

 new and extremely important is happening in the world. 



Their gathering is important, and every university, research organi- 

 zation, and industry should be represented. Every chemist realizes 

 that scientists stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors. It is for 

 this reason that their gain is exceptionally rapid. A scientific prin- 

 ciple once established becomes the property of all science; a piece of 

 apparatus once constructed becomes a pattern for later apparatus of 

 the same kind. 



These leaders in the fields of science are the real authors of history. 

 Their work is having more fundamental effects than all the laws that 

 have been enacted or all the armies that have ever marched in triumph. 

 The benefits that flow from their achievements are not limited by race 

 or creed or political boundaries or even by time. They provide 

 physical comforts for all men and gradually free their bodies from 

 disease and their minds from the terrors of superstitions. They give 

 their fellow scientists enchanting new views into the regions they 

 explore. 



That this influence does not die with the individual is clearly illus- 

 trated by the life of Charles Frederick Chandler, whose one hundredth 

 birthday will be celebrated at Columbia University in October. Dr. 

 Chandler was one of the founders of the American Chemical Society 

 on April 6, 1876, and served as its president in 1881. He knew how, 

 as few others who have lived, to open the portals of chemistry to a 

 pleasing and attractive vista. He aroused curiosity and ardor. He 



1 Address of the president of the American Chemical Society, Rochester meeting, September 9, 1937. 

 Reprinted by permission from Science, vol. 86, No. 2229, September 17, 1937. 



187 



