Did you know Rochester had ties to the Manhattan Project? That’s the question “ABOUT…TIME Magazine” publisher and human encyclopedia Jim Blount asked the Connections team last week.
Blount is referring to the work of chemist William Jacob Knox, Jr. Knox, an African American man, was invited by Columbia University in 1942 to work on the project. He was later appointed head of the all-white Corrosion Section. According to the Science History Institute, Knox later said that the war provided his first taste of true membership in an active scientific community. In 1945, Kodak hired Knox as a research associate; he was the second Black Ph.D. chemist hired by the company.
This hour, we discuss Knox’s life and work with Blount and one of Knox’s former colleagues, the remarkable Walter Cooper.
Our guests:
- James M. Blount, publisher of “ABOUT…TIME Magazine”
- Walter Cooper, Ph.D., scientist, humanitarian, activist, and educator
