Commencement address
Commencement address given by Owen D. Young:
"The vital part of the incandescent electric lamp is the tungsten wire inside the bulb. It was well known that this metal would withstand the high heat required for incandescence over a long period without disintegration, but it was also known that tungsten was one of the most recalcitrant of the metals. Each particle was such a rugged individualist that it would have nothing to do with its neighbor. It seems to have no social sense at all. One day, courageous and daring men determined that that obstinate metal should be conquered, and it was. With high heats and extraordinarily ingenious methods, tungsten was so converted that it could be drawn into wire, and the wire became stronger than steel of equivalent size.
"You must fuse at white heat the several particles of your learning into an element so ductile and so strong that nothing can destroy it without destroying you.
"Let me be a little more specific. What is the use of studying Greek unless you can bring all the beauty of that language and literature into your thinking and your expression today? What is the use of studying Latin unless you can get through it a better understanding, a more complete feeling of the mighty activities in their heights and depths that made Rome both glorious and ignoble? What is the use of studying French unless through a wider outlook and more varied contacts that language brings to you a better understanding of the world in which you live and an appreciation of that grace which is the basis of good manners?
"What is the use of studying history without co-relating it with the economics which for the most part has been its master? What is the use of studying economics or politics without relating them both to a knowledge of the physical sciences which shape their courses?
"My point is that it is not enough for you to study economics in an insulated compartment and history and governments and the languages and science. It is not enough to gather them up as separate particles into a powder which you carry out with your diploma. They must be fused and integrated."
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Addressed to the graduating class of Hendrix College, 1934. Young founded RCA and was its chairman for 10 years (though evidently his activities were not as admirable as his advice to young graduates). This speech is in the public domain.
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