Earl L. Warrick

Earl L. Warrick begins the interview with a description of his parents and childhood, which involved frequent moves between cities. He remembers a seventh grade teacher who inspired his interest in chemical engineering by having him build a one­tube radio. He tells of his undergraduate years at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, where the chemical engineering department was a bit disappointing. This led him to switch to physical chemistry, in which he received a master's degree. After recounting his year at Brown, Warrick describes his experiences at the Mellon Institute, where he developed a glass coating. He received his Sc.D. for a kinetic study carried out almost exclusively on nights and weekends, while he continued work at Mellon. Warrick summarizes his career at Dow Corning, including the development of the "200 fluid," extensive rubber, polymer, and silicone research, his invention of "Silly Putty," and his work with silicon. He mentions the influence of several colleagues, especially McGregor, Collings, Hyde, Bass, and Speier. Warrick concludes by commenting on his position at Saginaw Valley State College, his current writing, and the changes that have occurred in chemistry throughout his career.

Carnegie Institute of Technology

1933 - 1934 Teaching Assistant, Chemistry

Brown University

1934 - 1935 Teaching Assistant, Chemistry

Mellon Institute

1935 - 1937 Assistant

Mellon Institute

1937 - 1946 Fellow, Organo-Silicon Chemistry

Mellon Institute

1946 - 1955 Senior Fellow

Mellon Institute

1955 - 1956 Administrative Fellow

Carnegie Institute of Technology

1943 - 1945 Instructor, Mathematics

University of Pittsburgh

1947 - 1948 Instructor, Chemistry

Dow Corning Corporation

1956 - 1959 Assistant Director of Research

Dow Corning Corporation

1959 - 1962 Manager, Hyper-Pure Silicon Division

Dow Corning Corporation

1962 - 1968 General Manager, Electronic Products Division

Dow Corning Corporation

1968 - 1972 Manager, New Products Business

Dow Corning Corporation

1972 - 1976 Senior Management Consultant

Saginaw Valley State College

1979 - 1980 Interim Dean, Science, Engineering and Technology

Saginaw Valley State College

1983 - 1984 Interim Dean, Science, Engineering and Technology

Saginaw Valley State College

1984 Special Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.