loki life of steinmetz

LOKI the Life of Charles Proteus STEINMETZ by Jonathan Norton Leonard DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK 1929 Courtesy of General Electric "MY LIGHTNING DID THAT, MR. EDISON. " 577 COPYRIGHT, 1928, 1929 BY DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 23 DEDICATION SOME centuries before Christianity the Norse- men invented a group of gods which stood, like all mythological characters, for types familiar to their inventors. Thor was the eternal strong man. Balder was the feebly gentle saint. But one of these Norse gods was prophetic. Loki, the God of Fire, was a modern scientist, a person who, prophecy said, would destroy the gods and Asgard with them. He was master of all the undis- covered kinds of wisdom which the Norse dimly sensed and vaguely suspected. He understood Thor's thunderbolts better than Thor himself. When there was trouble in Asgard he gave the needed advice and laughed to see it accepted with such alacrity. Loki was not a full-blooded god. He never quite belonged. He was half Frost Giant or Jotunn, the victim of a prehuman misalliance, the leader of a mythological demimonde. And the prophecy that he would destroy Asgard — did that come true? Not at once. The robust old gods were replaced by feebler ones with haloes round their foreheads, and riotous Asgard changed into a spotless Heaven all white-tiled with mother-of-pearl. But now in modern times all the Asgards are fall- ing around the ears of their respective saints. And among the destroying modern Lokis is Steinmetz. He was also half Jotunn. He didn } t quite belong. But his mind was one of the very best in the world. I^4G4- [...]... of the is that of the pure scientist Find- [9] LOKI ing out about the world is the only mental activity which interests him Some children retain this experimental attitude throughout them life The best They never put never good enough for is a definite period at the end These are the children who grow up into the leaders of modern science As an intelligent child and one cut off from many of their life. .. around when plenty of water was poured it These are rather ordinary episodes They could have happened in the lives of most children But the point is that Steinmetz never outgrew this experi- in] LOKI mental state of mind He went on playing with things and as he became able to manage more complicated tools and methods his discoveries began all his life, to be of real importance Some men of things — are... nothing but study, grind, and dig his way into that mass of knowledge like a starving mouse gone mad at the sight of a universe of cheese How exciting the first formalities of entering a university! The student pretends to be annoyed but he's really delighted with the ritual-like trooping from office to office collecting [21] important-looking LOKI blanks and catalogues There's a rarefied solemnity... this experimental state of mind as long as they remain children It's only after they get old enough to have some knowledge of the established status quo that their minds become static The world to a child is very incomplete It has to be explored and found out The business of growing in up is largely a matter of filling up the blanks in the structures of the world As the attitude of science It it is happens,... [17] of Science LOKI is still busy with the first six days of creation never look upon his work and see that He will good it is TheSteinmetzhousehold had a non-religious atmosphere most favourable to the growth of a scientific mind Although the father was not actively hostile to religion he didn't let it bother him and he took care to shield his promising son realized that religious training mind of. .. operation but made in, blocks began of wood, and put out the impending conflagration Karl felt much The it built a water wheel and was rather less satisfied its designer in It wasn't point of The wheel was of two semicircular blocks and was set in a power house built of square ones Of course there were numerous reasons why it didn't revolve It had no axle, for instance But young Steinmetz, following correctly... saw from Pisgah The Promised Land of Science is a hard one to enter but fame and satisfaction await the explorer behind every burning bush Steinmetz plunged at once into the revelry of learning For a year he thought of nothing else Numbers, theorems, and beautiful burnished hypotheses spun in his brain like whirling dervishes It was a kind of drug addiction The more of the drug he incorporated into... is a thorough knowledge of the classics When five years old the pupil studied Latin and studied it desperately Hebrew Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and French were taught, but not stressed And if the teachers had heard At seven he of science officially studied Greek and sometimes in the abstract they never admitted There was system of scientific launches the as yet no sign of that vast secondary schools... case of a student seemed absurd to examine Very few of these exceptions were been so remarkable that it him with the rest made For this ceremony the candidates examiners were required to appear The richer boys already owned in as well as the formal dress dress suits the poorer ones could borrow or rent them ; Some might go to the length of buying an outfit especially for the [15] LOKI occasion Young Steinmetz. .. into the leaders of modern science As an intelligent child and one cut off from many of their life experiences of the usual activities of childhood, Steinmetz did a tremendous amount of The few youthful experimenting this toys and materials at his disposal were utilized to the full extent of their possibilities Among the things he wooden building blocks had He to play with were some arranged these . LOKI the Life of Charles Proteus STEINMETZ by Jonathan Norton Leonard DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK 1929 Courtesy of General Electric "MY LIGHTNING DID THAT, MR saint. But one of these Norse gods was prophetic. Loki, the God of Fire, was a modern scientist, a person who, prophecy said, would destroy the gods and Asgard with them. He was master of all the undis- covered. white-tiled with mother -of- pearl. But now in modern times all the Asgards are fall- ing around the ears of their respective saints. And among the destroying modern Lokis is Steinmetz. He was also half Jotunn.