THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE UPON THE HISTORY
OF OHIO*
by JOHN
S. MILLIS
President of Western Reserve
University
I recall that many years ago a teacher
informed a class of which
I was a member that history was the
record of the answers to the
questions "Who?"
"What?" "Where?" and "When?" Since that
time I have learned that history also
embraces the answers to the
questions of "How?" and
"Why?" Further, it has been those parts
of history which deal with the latter
two questions which have
interested me most and which have added
most to my education.
The facts on who did what, when and
where, have always been
interesting, but have been simply
information, whereas the ideas
of how and why have seemed to me to be
in the realm of wisdom,
for they bring understanding of the
past, clarity in the present, and
some foreshadowing of the future. Thus
it is that I have been most
interested in the great forces, the
compelling ideas, the contending
pressures, which have shaped the course
of human events and made
history itself. Since I was trained as a
scientist, it is natural that
I have been most interested to observe
how science has shaped
human affairs, and in what ways history
has been controlled and
directed by that single force.
Most of us would agree that science is a
great force in the world
today, and does shape history itself. We
would further agree that
this has been the case for nearly a
century. There is no need to
document this statement in any detail.
We are all familiar with
the dramatic change in our region and in
our country from an
agricultural economy to the highest
degree of industrialization in
the world. We know that science has been
applied to the industrial
process and hence is substantially
responsible for the revolution
which is so obvious that we are
frequently not conscious of it. Every-
one is also aware of the rapid change of
our culture and society
* This is the text of an address
delivered at the sixty-seventh annual meeting of
the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society, held at Columbus, April 4, 1952.
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
from that of a rural people to a nearly
complete urbanization.
Again we must attribute this to the
impact of science.
Even the international field presents
us with problems which
we can attribute to science. The
tensions between peoples and
nations appear to be based on jealousy
over the possession of
natural resources or the standard of
living which can be developed
and maintained. Natural resources would
be meaningless if science
had not found a way to make them useful
to men. The standard
of living is directly related to
scientific knowledge and particularly
its use.
The problem of war and peace is just
one other evidence of the
impact of science upon history. Nowhere
are some of the results
of science more dramatically displayed
than in the waging of war.
It has truthfully been said that our
present peace depends largely
on whether one nation or another has
the most advanced scientific
knowledge about the nature of physical
matter. All this is true
and accepted, yet the remarkable fact
is, as far as I can observe,
that science as such has never and does
not now make any direct
impact upon history. Rather its
tremendous effects are achieved by
indirection, and always with the
participation of individuals other
than the scientist himself. Thus it is
that the obvious and dramatic
effect of scientific discovery is seen
at a time different from its own
occurrence, and frequently in a totally
different geographic and
cultural setting. This seems almost a
contradiction of terms, for
history teaches us, at least
superficially, that the forces which mold
human events are generally directly
associated both in time and
in place with the events that they
cause.
May I illustrate this basic point with
a reference to the atomic
bomb. The basic scientific study which
led to the discovery of
nuclear fission, and the eventual
successful manufacture of the
atomic bomb, was done by Lord
Rutherford at Cambridge, England,
in 1918. Later work by two German
investigators in 1939 pro-
duced nuclear fission. However, the
great impact upon the course
of the history of the world took place
in Japan in 1945. The names
we associate with atomic energy and the
bomb are Oppenheimer,
Conant, Compton--not Rutherford; and
the places, Chicago, New
The Impact of Science Upon the
History of Ohio 229
Mexico, Oak Ridge, or Hanford,
Washington. History will pay
little attention to Cambridge and the
year 1918, but it will pay
great attention to 1945 and Hiroshima.
One might generalize by
saying that the impact of science upon
history is slight in any
direct sense, and that the impact of
scientists upon the course of
events almost negligible, but that the
impact of the technologist
who applies the knowledge of the
scientist is direct and over-
powering.
In thinking about the history of Ohio,
one is struck by the fact
that the technologist and his
application of science has been the
great means of shaping our history as a
state. Our state has pro-
duced many individuals of inventive
genius and of great develop-
mental skill, but very few persons who
have made important
contributions to fundamental science.
Thus the impact of science
upon the history of Ohio has been a
record of invention and ap-
plication. I should like to document
this statement by reminding
you of the lives and contributions of
four native Ohioans and one
native son of my former state, Vermont.
Ohio's first, and probably greatest,
inventor-son was Thomas
Edison, born February 11, 1847, at
Milan. Though he left this state
at an early date, his inventive genius
and his skill in organization
were responsible for a great change in
the way of life in this, his
native state. Edison is remembered for
his important improvements
in the telegraph, for his development
of the phonograph, for his
contributions to the early motion
pictures. More important than
this was his work on the generation and
distribution of electric
power, and, particularly, his
contribution of the incandescent lamp.
Since the electric age has been called
the second phase of the
American industrial revolution, these
had a direct and powerful
effect upon Ohio and its development.
But much more important
than any one of his inventions was the
contribution which Edison
made by demonstrating how to organize
inventive skills and
technological know-how in order to
master specific problems and
to move in an orderly and directed way
to a specific objective.
His was the first industrial research
laboratory, and the wide range
of its work is the perfect example of
how science can be bent to
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the needs of industry and society.
Patterned after Edison and his
associates, have come all of the great
industrial laboratories, the
development of which has made the
United States preeminent in
the industrial world of the twentieth
century.
One of the great chapters of the
history of Ohio comes from
the technology of metals. Of course
iron and steel have been most
significant, but we must share that
story with many other states.
Ohio can, however, claim as a native
son Charles M. Hall, who
perfected the process for the
extraction of aluminum upon which
is based the whole technology of that
important metal. Charles
Hall was born December 6, 1863, at
Thompson in Geauga County.
I doubt if history records any major
inventive contribution so
early in a man's life. Young Hall was
interested in chemistry while
in his early teens, and the story is
told that he wanted to find a way
to extract aluminum from bauxite while
in his first year of chemistry
at Oberlin College. At any rate he did
develop the electrolytic
process and won a patent on it in 1886,
before he was 23 years old.
The story of aluminum is not as
familiar as is that of iron, but
it has become so important in
transportation, construction, and the
electrical industry, that it certainly
is one of the great factors in
shaping our technology and therefore
our history.
Ohio can claim only one of the Wright
brothers by birth, for
Wilbur was born in Indiana in 1867,
while Orville was born
August 19, 1871, at Dayton. However,
both Wrights spent virtually
their entire lives at Dayton, and Ohio
very properly claims both
of them.
The story of the Wrights and the
airplane is familiar to all.
Starting as manufacturers of bicycles,
they soon became much
more interested in flight. They built
their first airplane kite in 1899,
their first glider in 1900. In 1901
they designed and constructed
the first wind tunnel, which they used
to obtain data on wing design,
fuselage, and stability. Their second
glider was built in 1902.
In 1903 came the great accomplishment
of powered flight at Kitty
Hawk. In 1906 the first patents were
issued to the Wrights, and
they were recognized as the real
fathers of the airplane. The air-
The Impact of Science Upon the
History of Ohio 231
plane has perhaps had the greatest
impact on the history of Ohio,
of the United States, and of the world,
of any single device or
invention. Not only has it made the
world a very small place in
terms of transportation, but as an
instrument of war it has made
it a very different place indeed from
that which our fathers knew.
The fourth Ohioan I would mention is
Charles Kettering, born
August 29, 1876, at Loudonville.
Kettering was trained as an
engineer on this very campus, and
entered into his career as an
inventor and organizer immediately upon
graduation. We think
of him first as an inventor in the
field of the automobile, crediting
him with the self-starter, ethyl gas,
and the high compression
engine. Secondly, we think of his work
in refrigeration, lacquers,
and the diesel engine as applied to the
railroad locomotive. How-
ever, in my judgment, his greatest
contribution was his genius for
organization of inventive genius and
technical skill. General Motors
is not the world's largest corporation
by any accident. It is that by
reason largely of its devotion to
research and development. What
Edison began in a research laboratory
organization, Kettering im-
proved and brought to a high degree of
perfection.
I could go on and list many more
individuals who have shaped
our history by the use and application
of science. However, I believe
that I have made my point-that the
impact of science upon history
through the hand of the inventor is
great indeed. In just about a
century Ohio has gone from an
agricultural frontier area to one
of the most highly industrialized areas
on the face of the earth. This
was not accomplished because there were
rich deposits of natural
resources within the boundaries of the
state. Ohio has essentially
no metal ores, its coal is by no means
the best, and its petroleum
resources are negligible indeed. Ohio
did have and still has some
natural advantages in transportation
with its lake, its rivers, and
its early canals. Being athwart the
main rail route, it early held
a transportation advantage. The real
resource, however, that Ohio
has had, the real key to the revolution
of the century, the real
thread to our history, has been
technology. Ohio has had an unusual
amount of inventive genius and its
corollary of managerial skill.
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Those two abilities have taken the
discoveries of basic science
from every age and every country of the
earth and applied them to
bring about as dramatic a revolution as
history has ever recorded.
So far I have been talking about the
men who used science to
build a new technology as making in
large degree the history of the
past century in Ohio. Now I want to
talk about the impact of
science upon our history because of the
wisdom and vision of a
statesman. That statesman is little
known in Ohio, but nevertheless
his mark is here. I am thinking of
Justin Morrill, who was born in
Norwich, Vermont, in 1807. He was not a
scientist, and he was
not an inventor, but rather he saw more
clearly, and at an earlier
time, what the true impact of the
industrial revolution was to be.
Morrill spent most of his life as a
legislator, first being a member
of the house of representatives, then
senator. I believe his total
service in congress spanned more than a
half century.
Justin Morrill, in the 1840's, saw
clearly that the application
of science to commerce and to life
would place untold power in
the hands of those who could control
it. He believed devoutly that
democracy could not survive in a
society where power was con-
centrated in the hands of a few. This
applied to political power,
to financial power, to the ownership of
natural resources, and
most importantly, to knowledge. Morrill
argued forcefully that if
science and technology should become
the sole property of a
privileged few, or of an elite, that
democracy could not survive
any more than it would where the land
was owned by an aristocracy
or where only a few citizens were
allowed to vote. Acting upon
this conviction, he began his campaign
to provide education in
science and technology, agriculture,
and the mechanic arts (he
called it), for all classes and without
regard to economic or social
status. It took him over fifteen years
to get congress to pass the
land grant act, but finally, in 1862,
the law was passed and technical
education at public expense was
provided in all of the states.
Science and technology have made
terrific impact upon our way of
life and upon our history. However, the
possession of scientific
knowledge and technological skill by
many of our citizens and its
democratic offering through the land
grant colleges has had an even
The Impact of Science Upon the
History of Ohio 233
more important impact. Had it not been
for Morrill, we might
not have had all our inventors and
technologists, but their work
would have been done eventually by
someone else. But, without
Morrill and his vision, we would have
had a totally different
society and very likely that society
would not have been a democracy.
Such is the picture of science and its
impact upon history through
technology. The important point that I
have tried to make is a
particular relationship in time between
science as such, and
technology based thereon. This is a
clear pattern of the past, but
there is no certainty that it is the
pattern which will persist into
the indefinite future. In fact, we are
at a time when the relationship
between science and technology is
undergoing rapid change. Two
generations ago, a period of forty,
fifty, or even a hundred years
elapsed between the discovery of
scientific fact and its application
through technology. One generation ago,
a period of twenty or
thirty years elapsed between scientific
discovery and its technical
application. Engineers, inventors,
technologists, had at their com-
mand a substantial reservoir of
unexploited scientific knowledge
which, through their art, could be made
useful and productive.
The problem was only to find uses and
economic means of those
uses. Now that relationship has been
upset by World War II.
In that desperate effort we nearly
exhausted the reservoir of science
in developing the weapons of that
conflict. Now instead of being
twenty to fifty years behind science,
technology is right on the
heels of scientific discovery. Now
instead of having a comfortable
accumulated capital to draw upon at
need, technology must live
almost from hand to mouth. In fact,
there are now frequent oc-
currences when technological
development must stop and wait for
further scientific progress. Thus the
needs and urgencies of tech-
nology stimulate, direct, and limit
science itself.
These facts cannot help but have an
effect upon science, upon
technology, and therefore upon history.
I do not know that this
means that we will become better
masters of our fate and that we
will be able to direct the course of
history without leaving so much
to chance. At least there is an
interesting avenue of speculation,
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and an idea worth attention. Certainly
we can predict that the future
relationship between science and
history will be substantially altered.
I do not know that I have added a great
deal to your knowledge
of the history of Ohio. I do not know
that I have made any new
points for you in relating science and
technology to history. But
I do hope that in reminding you very
briefly of the contribution of
five men, I have given you some insight
into one of the means by
which history is made. History is made,
not by scientific fact, nor
by technical skill. History is made by
men in whose minds knowl-
edge becomes useful, and by whose skill
the face of the earth is
made to change.