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SCIENCE. 



IN. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 4(;:!. 



by clear ideas of the needs of engineering 

 education and by well-formed and definite 

 plans for increasing its efficiency. When 

 he took charge of Sibley College it had but 

 sixty students, while now it has nearly a 

 thousand, this being probably a larger 

 registration of students pursuing me- 

 chanical and electrical courses than that 

 of any other institution in the United 

 States. Dr. Thurston 's capacity for organ- 

 ization, his knowledge of all the details of 

 the courses of study, his skill in managing 

 the many professors and instructors under 

 his charge and his untiring energy in 

 work have always been an inspiring ex- 

 ample to professors of engineering every- 

 where. 



In 1873 Dr. Thurston was U. S. Com- 

 missioner to the Vienna exposition and 

 wrote the volume on machinery. In 1875 

 he was appointed a member of the U. S. 

 board to test metals, and became its most 

 active member during the three years of its 

 existence. In connection with this work 

 he devised a machine for torsional tests 

 and made numerous investigations in the 

 mechanics of materials, the most important 

 one being that which established the fact 

 that the elastic strength of wrought iron 

 or steel is increased by stressing the ma- 

 terial beyond that limit. In 1883 he pub- 

 lished a work in three volumes entitled 

 'The Materials of Engineering,' which has 

 been of much value to the engineering pro- 

 fession; an abridged edition of this work 

 called 'Materials of Construction' has been 

 widely used as a text-book in technical 

 schools. 



While at Stevens Institute Dr. Thurston 

 instituted tests of the efficiency of boilers 

 and engines and continued these studies 

 throughout his life, becoming one of the 

 highest American authorities on thermo- 

 dynamics. His books entitled 'Handbook 

 of Engine and Boiler Trials,' 'Stationary 

 Steam Engines' and 'Boiler Explosions' 



have had a wide circulation, while his 

 'Manual of the Steam Engine,' a work 

 in three volumes, has had the high honor 

 of having appeared at Paris in a French 

 translation. He also made many experi- 

 ments on the friction of machinery, the 

 results of which are given in his books 

 'Friction and Lubrication' and 'Friction 

 and Lost Work.' Other books which ap- 

 peared fx'om his ready pen were ' The Ani- 

 mal as a Machine and Prime Motor' and 

 'Life of Robert Fulton,' while his contri- 

 butions to scientific and engineering period- 

 icals are numbered by the hundreds. 



Professoi' Thurston was a member of 

 many scientific and engineering societies, 

 both American and foreign, and always 

 maintained an active interest in their work. 

 In 1880 he was one of the foundei-s of the 

 American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

 and its first president, and his counsel has 

 always been highly valued by the governing 

 board of this society. The presidency of 

 many other societies was often urged upon 

 him by his friends, but he seemed to have 

 a marked aversion to being regarded as a 

 candidate, although always ready to assist 

 in the scientific or professional work of 

 such organizations. 



The connection of Professor Thurston 

 with the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science began with his elec- 

 tion in 1874, and in the following year he 

 was made a fellow. In 1877 and 1878 he 

 was vice-president of Section A, which at 

 that time included mathematics, physics 

 and chemistry, while the remaining work 

 of the association was grouped as natural 

 history in Section B. In 1884, when the 

 association had expanded to six sections, 

 Professor Thurston was vice-president of 

 Section D which includes mechanical sci- 

 ence and engineering, and he always took 

 a deep interest in its work. 



When Science began its new series in 

 1895, an editorial committee was organized 



A 



