4 Scientists of G. E. Included With Notables

Thomson, Whitney, Langmuir, Coolidge Among 13 Invited to Opening of Patent Office

Among the 13 most notable American inventors and scientists of inventive talents now living, as reflected by invitations to the opening of the new patent office at Washington on April 11, are four men in the organization of the General Electric Company: Professor Elihu Thomson, Dr. Willis R. Whitney, Dr. William D. Coolidge and Dr. Irving Langmuir. The group of 13 will be entertained at the ceremonies by a committee of national scope which is preparing the program for the occasion.

Professor Thomson, who heads the General Electric contingent, is one of the most conspicuous of America’s electrical scientists. He alone holds more than 700 patents for various inventions, chiefly electrical. Dr. Whitney is a vice-president of General Electric and director of its famous research laboratory. He himself holds a number of patents, and directs an institution which has provided the patent office with an immense amount of business.

Drs. Coolidge and Langmuir are associate directors with Dr. Whitney in the research laboratory. Dr. Coolidge is the inventor of ductile tungsten wire and of the portable and high-tension types of X-ray tubes. Dr. Langmuir is the inventor of the gas-filled incandescent lamp, the high-capacity vacuum tube, and the atomic hydrogen process of electric welding.

The others in the group of 13 are Orville Wright, co-inventor of the airplane; Professor Michael I. Pupin of Columbia University, who made possible long-distance telephony; Dr. Leo H. Baekeland, inventor of bakelite; Nikola Tesla, inventor of the modern alternating-current induction motor; Senator Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless; Dr. Frank B. Jewett, director of the research laboratory of the Bell Telephone Company; General J. J. Carty, of the Bell Telephone Company; Charles F. Kettering, vice president of General Motors Corporation and director of its research laboratory; and Dr. Charles L. Reese, of the Dupont organization.