I ENJOYED JIM QUINN’S “Hall of Fame Report” titled “A State of Inventiveness” (Winter 2004). It is amazing how much technology came out of the Buckeye State. While all the technology of rubber and glass bottles was going on, the National Cash Register Company in Dayton was developing the mechanical wonder it is named for. Soon Delco, under Charles (“Boss”) Kettering, was developing the self-starter at its plant in Dayton. Down in Cincinnati, Procter & Gamble introduced Tide detergent in the late 1940s, making laundry soap obsolete. It all started when one of their scientists discovered that sodium tripolyphosphate was a great detergent builder. Soon after, Monsanto’s Central Research Laboratories, in Dayton, invented All low-sudsing detergent for front-loading washing machines.
A little south of Dayton and north of Cincinnati, in Miamisburg, Monsanto processed neutron-irradiated bismuth to produce polonium, used in conjunction with beryllium to emit neutrons for initiators for atomic weapons and for thermopiles to generate electricity for devices employed in space. What will Ohioans think of next?
G. D. Nelson
CREVE COEUR, MO.
