Arthur D. Little

Arthur D. Little’s distinguished career as practical pioneer in chemistry began so early in life that he may be said all but to have been born to the profession. His own reminiscence placed its beginning at the age of twelve, on the occasion when a boy companion asked him for ten cents, for the purpose of “showing some chemical experiments.” In granting the request, Little “invested his whole capital,” and he at once announced to his family that he was “going to be a chemist.” The Bulletin of his chemical laboratories remarked last October, in recalling that boyhood incident: “To the misgiving and often to the offense of the household, he forthwith began to experiment on his own account, and has been experimenting ever since.”

It was when he had barely attained his majority that Little conceived the idea of a practical research laboratory which should extend and supplement the work of private chemists or chemical manufacturers. Beginning by what he called “blazing trails” for more or less reluctant manufacturers, the institution came eventually to the policy of “making sure that we start where others have left off.” In the end, its staff of trained investigators comprised, by its own summary, the graduates of 38 colleges, universities and technical schools, together with German, Swiss, English and Canadian experts. In the extraordinary extension of practical chemical knowledge during the three past decades, Little and his investigating laboratory led.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1936 Century Association Yearbook