Willis Rodney Whitney
| Willis R. Whitney | |
|---|---|
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Whitney as a MIT faculty member
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| Born | August 11, 1868 Jamestown, New York |
| Died | January 9, 1958 (aged 89) Schenectady, New York |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | chemistry |
| Known for | General Electric Company |
| Notable awards |
Willard Gibbs Award (1916) Perkin Medal (1921) IEEE Edison Medal (1934) Public Welfare Medal (1937) John Fritz Medal (1943) IRI Medal (1946) |
Willis Rodney Whitney (August 22, 1868 – January 9, 1958) was an American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company.
He was born in Jamestown, New York, 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.
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.
He died at Schenectady, New York in 1958.
Whitney was member of:
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