Willis R. Whitney

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caption = Whitney as a MIT faculty member
birth_date = August 22, 1868
birth_place = Jamestown, New York
death_date = January 9, 1958
death_place = Schenectady, New York
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nationality = United States
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field = chemistry
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known_for = General Electric Company
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Willis Rodney Whitney (August 22, 1868 in Jamestown, New York; died January 9, 1958 in Schenectady, New York) was an American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company.

Early life and studies

He was the son on John J. and Agnes ("nee" Reynolds) Whitney. In 1890, he achieved a bachelor of science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he then worked as Assistant Instructor of Chemistry until 1892. After that, he studied at the University of Leipzig, Germany, under Wilhelm Ostwald, where in 1896, he achieved a Ph.D. title.

Until 1908, he advanced his paused career at the MIT, specializing in electrochemistry and developing an electrochemical theory of corrosion.

General Electric

Since 1900, Whitney had been working part-time as an advisor at the newly founded research lab of General Electric. He eventually moved away from the MIT and into a full job at the GE labs. In 1915, he had about 250 staff members, Irving Langmuir and William David Coolidge among them. They worked on vacuum- and gas-filled lamps, the wireless telegraph, and X-ray technology.

Whitney stepped down from his position in 1932, to be succeeded by William David Coolidge as director of the General Electric Research Laboratory.

Memberships

Whitney was member of:
* the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
* the American Society of Electrochemical Engineers
* the National Academy of Sciences
* the British Institute of Metals
* the National Research Council

Awards and titles

* honorary Doctor of chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh (1919)
* Doctor of Science from Union College (1919)
* President of The Electrochemical Society (1911-1912)
* President of The Chemical Society (1909)
* Willard Gibbs Medal (1916)
* Perkin Medal (1921)
* Gold Medal of the National Institute of Social Sciences (1928)
* Edison Medal "for his contributions to electrical science, his pioneer inventions, and his inspiring leadership in research" (1934)
* Associate Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
* Member of the Advisory Committee to Bureau of Standards
* Member of the National Research Council
* Member of the Naval Consulting Board
* Director of the Albany Medical College
* Member of the Board of Governors of Union College

External links

* [http://www.nace.org/nace/content/awards/whitney.asp Willis Rodney Whitney Award] of NACE International
* http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/whitney.html
* [http://www.geocities.com/bioelectrochemistry/whitney.html Biography]

Persondata
NAME=Whitney, Willis Rodney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company
DATE OF BIRTH=August 22, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH=Jamestown, New York
DATE OF DEATH=January 9, 1958
PLACE OF DEATH=Schenectady, New York