New Britain herald., 1916-12-13
A GREAT AMERICAN.
Former New Britain Man Hailed as One of the Nations Greatest
 Scientists

The New York Times asks the ques- tion: ITO how many hundreds or thousands of Americans is the name of Elihu Thomson even known, or 1T known does it connote anything more than some vague notion of science or invention ?"
 The same personal question, in a more personal way, might be asked or each and every American citizen in New Britain Here Professor Thom- son should not be a stranger. He labored within the confines of this city for many years. Here he developed those faculties of science which today crown him one of the great men among Americans Old timers who remember when the General Electric company had chosen New Britain as it's home will recall the forerunner of that concern. The Thomson-Houston company. It was with this organiza- tion that held forth in a wooden fac tory, since dem olished, where the triangular space now exists between the railroad tracks and Lake street, that Professor Thomson piled his days in New Britain. He lived here for a number of years and married a daughter of the late Charles Peck. In recounting his present day achieve ments, The New York Times, after asking this pointed question:: "In popular referendum where, say, the twelve most famous" or "greatest' men in the country were to be se- lected, how many hundreds of thou sands, how many thousands of ballots would Elihu Thomson receiver" goes on to say, editorially:
 "The quiet, fruitful labors of men of science pass unnoticed by the general in every nation. Enhu Thomson, English by birth, is an American citizen of whom the United States will boast hereafter. He is of the. minds, few in every generation, that produce a great and lasting effect upon national welfare and industrial progress, that fructify civilization by the originality of their thought and their scientific achievement
 "Only. the other day Mr. Thomson, who wears modestly the laurels of We don't know how many native and foreign societies, received the medal of the Royal Society of London. On Friday night the Fritz medal was given to him. President MacLaurin of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology, of the corporation of which MT Thomson is member, mentioned his five hundred-odd patents, a large number of them embodying principles so wide in their application that they might almost be classed as physical 1 laws his master discovery of cleo tric welding, one of the greatest in l ventions of the last generation and so 1 on. Greater than the work, though is the man; and not merely by the num- Der and brilliance of his inventions, 1 not merely because of his contribu- 1 tions to electrical engineering, the ap- 1 piled science perhaps most chara cter istic of this age, is Elihu Thomson l great He has not been content to l dwell apart in that region of creative 1 imagination which is the mathema- tician's, the astronomers. The fact, i uncommon and one would have 1 thought all but impossible, in this | apotheosis of specialization, that his l scientific interest and knowledge have l the widest scope and range, has not l cngrossed him and confined him to the 1 cultivation of his own powers. In 1 his vo,1th The was a teacher in the l Central High school of Philadelphia. E1a has not ceased to teach, and more nroductively than he could hope to do in a university. In President Mac ,ar,rin's pOndered estimation or the mar this trait and habit are among the most significant:
 'Throughout his life he mas not l