THREE GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL 



SCIENCE. 



BY RAY STANNARD BAKER. 



[Ray Stannard Baker, author; born Lansing, Mich., April 17, 1870; graduated from 

 Michigan Agricultural college, B. S., 1SS9; also studied law and literature at Uni- 

 versity of Michigan; has written a large number of articles and stories for American 

 and English magazine's, prominent among which is a series on The Great Southwest 

 in the Century, 1902, and a companion series for the same magazine on The Great 

 Northwest; at present is associate editor of McClure's magazine, from which the 

 following article is republished. Author of Our New Prosperity, Seen in Germany, 

 etc.] 



One after another, almost within the space of a single 

 year, Mr. Peter Cooper Hewitt, of New York cit3% gave the 

 world three remarkable electrical inventions. Any one of 

 them would be sufficient to make a man famous; the three 

 have placed Mr. Hewitt in the very front rank of present day 

 inventors and scientists. So high an authority as Lord Kel- 

 vin, the greatest of living electricians, said after his recent visit 

 to this countr}^: 



''What attracted me most in America was the work of 

 Mr. Peter Cooper Hewitt and his vacuum lamp." 



And the public at large is quite as deeply concerned as 

 the scientists, for the new inventions have an intimate im- 

 portance for every man, woman, and child in the country. 



Briefly, before taking up the noteworthy story of the 

 experiments, this is the essence and significance of the inven- 

 tions : 



First — The new electric lamp. 



On an evening in Januar}^, 1902, a great crowd was at- 

 tracted to the entrance of the Engineers' club in New York 

 city. Over the doonvay a narrow glass tube gleamed with 

 a strange blue green light of such intensity that print was 

 easily readable across the street, and yet so softly radiant that 

 one could look directly at it without the sensation of blinding 

 discomfort which accompanies nearly all brilliant artificial 

 lights. The hall within, where Mr. Hewitt was making the 

 first public announcement of his great discovery, was also 



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