Arthur Dehon Little
| Arthur Dehon Little | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 15, 1863 Boston, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | August 1, 1935 (aged 71) Northeast Harbor, Maine, US |
| Alma mater | MIT |
| Occupation | Chemist, Chemical Engineer, Management consultant |
| Spouse(s) | Henrietta Rogers Anthony |
| Relatives | Royal Little (nephew) |
| Awards | Perkin Medal |
Arthur Dehon Little (December 15, 1863 – August 1, 1935) was an American chemist and chemical engineer. He founded the consulting company Arthur D. Little and was instrumental in developing chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is credited with introducing the term unit operations to chemical engineering and promoting the concept of industrial research.
Little was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied chemistry at MIT from 1881 to 1884.
In 1901 he married Henrietta Rogers Anthony. He died August 1, 1935 in Northeast Harbor, Maine. He was the uncle of Royal Little (1896-1989), founder and chair of Textron, and considered to be the Father of Conglomerates.
In 1886 he joined Richmond Paper Company in East Providence, Rhode Island as a chemist, later becoming superintendent of a paper mill, and effectively recognised that the chemical engineering design was wrong: by correcting this, he came to his first patent. Further research and patents followed, mainly related to paper processing technology.
Little left and formed his own company. He was joined by a colleague from Richmond Paper, Roger Griffin forming a new company in 1886, Little & Griffin, which was located in Boston where MIT was also located. Griffin and Little prepared a manuscript for The Chemistry of Paper-making which was for many years an authoritative text in the area. The book had not been entirely finished when Griffin was killed in a laboratory accident in 1893.
After this tragedy, Little carried on in the business alone for a number of years. During these years he founded the Cellulose Products Company demonstrating that cellulose acetate could be used in producing nonflammable wire insulation and artificial silk. The company didn't do well financially, and when it was dissolved, Eastman Kodak purchased the company's patents for the first nonflammable motion picture film and the Lustron Company bought the artificial silk patents becoming the only American manufacturer of acetate silk.
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