Dr. Archie Garfield Worthing

Biography
Certain consumer products appear simple in structure and can mislead one into thinking that they are therefore easy to manufacture. The electric incandescent lamp is one such product, but it is deceiving in that considerable study of some of the elements of the product are required for commercial success to occur. The engineering and scientific studies regarding tungsten, the light giving element of the lamp, are beyond the ability to imagine.

Those persons knowledgeable in the early work carried out with tungsten are familiar with the names of Herbert Ives, (a href="http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/People%20-%20Forsythe%20WE.htm">William Forsythe and William Coolidge, as well as the name of A. G. Worthing. These persons deserve some of the credit for the success of lamp products eventually developed by engineers, chemists and physicists.

Archie Garfield Worthing was born on 6 February 1881 in LeRoy, Dodge County, Wisconsin, being the son of Loella (McKnight) Worthing (1857-1919) and Arthur James Worthing (1855-1934). He obtained his B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1904. The Ph.D. degree was earned at the University of Michigan in 1911. Worthing then took a job at the newly created laboratory of the National Works in Cleveland in 1911.

Although working on practical lamp design problems was not the usual kind of activity undertaken by Worthing, there were exceptions during World War I. Quoting from The National in the World War¹:

"Early in 1918 the Laboratory was asked to develop an artificial-light unit for signalling in the daytime in places where the operator would be seen against a bright sky background. Later an additional request came for a 6-volt, 2-ampere lamp for use in a trench-signalling unit designed by Major Mendenhall and the Lynn Works of General Electric Company, to supplant the unsatisfactory unit then in service. Practically the entire time of Drs. Forsythe, Lorenz and Worthing was given for a period of ten or twelve months to working out these problems in light-signalling."

In regard to the above the following was also said¹:

"A 2-ampere, 6-volt, G-12 D. C. bayonet S-4 filament Mazda C lamp was developed for the trench signal unit for Major Mendenhall by the Lamp Development Laboratory and Dr. Worthing; lamps were supplied through the Lynn Works of the G. E. Co., for 300 units."

As will become evident when the reader scans the works published by Worthing (some of which are listed below), he contributed an enormous amount of important technical data so that the tungsten filament lamp could attain the prominent place in lighting that has endured since about 1909. He continued to add to that wealth of information after he left Nela Park and settled down at the University of Pittsburgh. Some lifetime activities of A. G. Worthing are shown below in time sequence.

Teacher in grammar school, Brandon, WI, 1900-1901
Earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1904
Assistant in physics, University of Wisconsin, 1904-1906
Acting instructor in physics, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1906-1909
Earned a doctorate degree from the University of Michigan in 1911
Associate physicist, Physical Laboratory of National Lamp Works, Cleveland, OH, 1911-1914
Physicist, Nela Research Laboratories, Cleveland, OH, 1914-1925
Head of Physics Department, University of Pittsburgh, 1925-1937
Professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh since 1925
Vice-President of the American Association of Physics Teachers, 1940
President of the American Association of Physics Teachers, 1941
Fellow of the American Physical Society
Vice-President of the Optical Society of America, 1939-1941
President of the Optical Society of America, 1941-1942
Member of the board of governors of the American Institute of Physics since 1941
Member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi and Sigma Pi Sigma

The A. G. Worthing Award is given annually to the outstanding senior in Physics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Some clarification should be made regarding the Physical Laboratory of National Lamp Works and the Nela Research Laboratories mentioned above. These are simply early names of what became known as the headquarters for General Electric Lighting at Nela Park in East Cleveland, Ohio. National became part of the General Electric organization in 1911.

Worthing married Exie Lillian Witherbee on 23 June 1905. Their children were Marion (b ca 1911), Helen (b ca 1917) and Robert (b 1918). Additional information regarding ancestors and descendants can be found at the very end of this write-up. Dr. Worthing passed away on 30 July 1949, four days after an abdominal operation.

A tribute to A. G. Worthing was published by O. H. Blackwood³. In the Blackwood article some of Worthing's personal characteristics were noted. Colleagues of Worthing pointed out that he had a passion for accuracy with meticulous attention to detail. He was sure-minded and in his teaching of physics his goal was to make sure that every student had comprehension of the material being taught. Worthing strived to improve one's ability to express and think problems through clearly.