Author Warner, John Christian, 1897-1989, interviewee.

Title Oral history interview with John C. Warner, 1984 February 8.

Location Call Number Status
 Oral Histories  QD22.W376 A5 1984  AVAILABLE
Description Sound files ; digital, mp3 file
Transcript : (95 leaves) ; 29 cm.
Series Chemical Heritage Foundation Oral History Transcript ; 0044.
Note Interview conducted by John A. Heitmann, at Gibsonia, Pennsylvania.
Summary John C. Warner begins the interview with a discussion of his family and childhood years growing up on a farm. He developed an interest in science in high school due to the encouragement of his science teacher, G. W. Warner. He enrolled in Indiana University in 1915. There, he received his A.B. in chemistry in 1919, his M.A. in 1920, and his Ph.D. in 1923. While in college, Warner worked for the Barrett Company working on synthetic phenol processing. As a graduate student, he was a research chemist for the Cosden Oil Company. After working for Cosden for just under a year, he returned to Indiana University as a chemistry instructor while completing his graduate studies. In 1926, he joined the faculty of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie-Mellon University) as a chemistry instructor. Warner spent the rest of his career at Carnegie. He rose through the university ranks, eventually becoming president of the Carnegie-Mellon in 1950. Warner restructured and developed the University's chemistry department. During his time at Carnegie, he worked closely with Charles Thomas on the chemistry, metallurgy, and plutonium purification aspects of the Manhattan Project. He also served as a liaison between Oak Ridge Laboratories and Monsanto Company for this project. Warner became a board member of Jones and Laughlin, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, and served as director of Spang and Company. Warner concludes the interview with a discussion of his family and reflections on his role in the advanced educational development in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Cite As John C. Warner, interviewed by John A. Heitmann, at Gibsonia, Pennsylvania., 1984 February 9 (Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, Oral History Transcript 0044).
Note Sound files Science History Institute.
Transcript Science History Institute.
Use No restrictions on access. Reproduction and use with permission. Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Note Born in Goshen, Indiana on 28 May 1897. Died on 12 April 1989. Education: A.B., Chemistry, Indiana University (1919), M.A., Chemistry, Indiana University (1920); Ph.D., Chemistry, Indiana University (1923). Employment: 1918-1919 Barrett Company; 1920-1921 Cosden Oil Company; 1922-1923 Indiana University; 1924-1926 Wayne Chemicals Corporation; 1926-1989 Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Indexes Transcript has been indexed.
Note Part or all of this item has been digitized by Science History Institute.
Subject(s) Warner, John Christian, 1897-1989 -- Interviews.
Indiana University.
Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Chemists -- Biography.
Chemists -- Interviews.
Genre Oral histories.
Interviews. aat
Alternate Author Heitmann, John Alfred, interviewer.
Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Alternate Title John C. Warner oral history interview