Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 184

Dr. Kinnicutt was also desirous of building up a strong course in Industrial Chemistry. By securing Dr. Frederick L. Dunlap, in 1896, as instructor in this subject, he went far toward attaining his goal. Mr. Dunlap, graduate of Michigan in 1892, and Ph.D., Harvard, 1895, had been an assistant at Yale before coming to the Institute. He spent four years on the staff, much to Dr. Kinnicutt's satisfaction, and was responsible for equipping the Industrial Chemistry laboratory. He returned to Michigan in 1900, to become assistant professor. To succeed him came Benjamin S. Merigold, also a graduate of Harvard, 1896, who had been engaged in graduate work there for four years.

Arthur Kendrick resigned from the department of Physics at the middle of the year 1895-96, to become associate professor of that subject at Rose Polytechnic Institute. Dr. L. Trenchard More, graduate of Washington University and Johns Hopkins, completed the year. The vacancy in this department was not filled. Professor Kimball was relieved of his dual role, the department of Electrical Engineering having been established as an entity separate from the department of Physics, and with a new professor in charge.

Harold B. Smith, the man chosen to head this new department, though only twenty-seven, had already shown evidence of the ability that was to carry him to the height of his profession. He was a native of Worcester County, was graduated from Cornell in 1891, and had had two years of graduate work there, during which time he had been adjunct professor at Arkansas State University. Following a year on electrical design work, he was appointed director of the new school of Electrical Engineering at Purdue, leaving two years later to accept the Worcester position. His achievements in the design of transformers and insulators had been noteworthy.

A year after the separation of these courses, the Institute lost the man who had been responsible for the development of both departments. Alonzo S. Kimball died December 2,

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