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CHARLES ALLEN THOMAS
1 900- 1 982
BY RALPH LANDAU
CHARLES ALLEN THOMAS, Founding Member of the Nations
Academy of Engineering (NAE), Life Member Emeritus of the
Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
retired Chairman and President of Monsanto Company, died at the
age of eighty-two at his winter home near Albany, Georgia, on
March 29, 1982. In his passing, the Nation has lost one of its most
distinguished scientists, a leader of the chemical industry, and a
prominent figure in the development of atomic energy. We at the
NAE have lost a towering member and staunch friend who had
participated in the affairs of the Academy for twenty years.
Dr. Thomas was an articulate spokesman for basic research,
higher education, and advanced technology, who gave generously of
his time and talent to a variety of civic, medical, and educational
organizations. In the mid-1960s, to broaden educational opportuni-
ties for residents of the St. Louis area, he led an unconventional
campaign that persuaded area taxpayers to give over $47 million for
the construction of a new junior college. In the years following his
retirement from Monsanto in 1970, Dr. Thomas served as Chair-
man of the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis
and led that university's fund-raising efforts for a decade.
Charles Allen Thomas was born in the bluegrass country of Ken-
tucky on February 15, 1900. His father, whose name was also
Charles Allen Thomas, was of Welsh descent and had come to
America from Australia as a minister of the Disciples of Christ. He
279
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280
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
died when young Charles Allen was only six months old. The infant
grew up with his mother, Frances Carrick Thomas, who was
descended from Scotch-Irish forebears of early American stock and
who lived to be ninety-four years of age.
l he young Charles went with his mother to Lexington, Kentucky,
to stay at his grandmother's home, which was across the street from
Transylvania College. Charles Thomas's fascination with chemistry
began at an early age. When a large explosion in his boyhood
laboratory in a room back of the kitchen almost blew out the end of
the house, Transylvania College professors invited the prodigy to use
their laboratories. He was then thirteen years old.
Following his graduation from Transylvania College in 1920, the
young man went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for
graduate study, where he earned his master's degree in chemistry in
1924. He helped work his way through graduate school by singing
professionally, and he seriously considered a career in music. He
received a D.Sc. degree in organic chemistry from Transylvania
College in 1933. He achieved fame in the scientific world when he
was a young researcher for General Motors: he and Dr. Carroll A.
(Ted) Hochwalt, another scientist who was later to achieve a leader-
ship position in Monsanto, were part of a team credited with a
significant role in the development of tetraethyl lead additive for
gasoline. Later, Dr. Thomas helped develop a process that extracted
bromine from seawater, thereby cutting the price of that product in
half on world markets. He also made important contributions to the
development of synthetic resins, synthetic styrene and rubber, and
_. ~ . . . . . . .
rocket propellants.
In 1926 the two men formed Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories
in Dayton, Ohio, where they conducted research for leading corpo-
rations. Their work there came to the attention of the late Edgar M.
Queeny of Monsanto, who decided he wanted them in his firm. He
bought their company and brought Dr. Thomas to St. Louis to
direct Monsanto's research, while Dr. Hochwalt remained for a time
in Dayton to spearhead the research that led to the development of
Acrilan, Monsanto's man-made fiber.
When the two scientists joined Monsanto in 1936, the St. Louis
chemical company was doing $34 million in annual sales. When Dr.
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CHARLES ALLEN THOMAS
281
Thomas retired as Chairman in 1970, sales at Monsanto had
reached $1.9 billion. "Now don't credit Ted and me with all the
growth, " Dr. Thomas once said. "Thousands of dedicated people at
Monsanto share in the credit. And the same thing applies to the
money raised during my chairmanship at Washington University. "
Under Dr. Thomas's presidency, which began in 1951, Monsan-
to's investment in research rose from $6.2 million a year to 5101.4
million. Asked about his approach to problem solving, Dr. Thomas
commented, "I've made it a habit to listen to intelligent young
people. It has been my experience you can learn as much from them
as they can from you." An affable, gregarious man with a fine sense
of humor but with penetrating insight into people, Dr. Thomas had
a knack for communicating a genuine concern for others. This easy
nature belied his inner drive and capacity for concurrent detailed
projects. He was an effective bridge between the idea generators in
the laboratory and the practical needs of the marketing organization
of Monsanto. He held ninety-five U.S. and foreign patents. There is
no doubt that he and Dr. Hochwalt made Monsanto into one of the
true high-technology companies of the world. It is interesting to
speculate whether an American corporation today would, should, or
could make so fruitful and so long-range an acquisition as Edgar
Queeny did for Monsanto.
Before and during World War II, Dr. Thomas was involved in the
top-secret Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. He
was a member of the group that developed the final processes to
purify plutonium, an essential radioactive element in the bomb. He
spent considerable time shuttling from one secret scientific base to
another, resolving differences and keeping the vital project in high
gear. He was in the exclusive group of top scientists under Dr.
Vannevar Bush and including others from MIT at Alamogordo,
New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, when the new bomb was tested. He
later deplored the U.S. resistance, in the face of vigorous growth of
nuclear plants abroad, to the development of nuclear-powered elec-
. .
tr~c-generat~ng plants.
After World War II Dr. Thomas was one of the five coauthors of
A Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy, prepared at the
direction of the Secretary of State's Committee on Atomic Energy,
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and commonly known as the Acheson-Lilienthal Report. It pro-
posed a master plan for the international control of atomic energy.
The plan, however, was never universally accepted. He also wrote
an important book, titled Ankydrous Aluminum Chloride in Organic
Ch~rr?tstry, a treatise that became the bible of chemists working with
aluminum chloride reactions.
In 1951 he was appointed a member of the President's Science
Advisory Committee by President Truman. This committee was
later reactivated by President Eisenhower to report directly to him
after the Sputnik episode. He was also a member of a group that
advised Secretary Neil McElroy to establish an office associated with
the Secretary of Defense to undertake advanced research projects.
This came to be known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA).
Dr. Thomas devoted the later years of his retirement to managing
Magnolia Plantation, a 15,000-acre family farm near Albany, Geor-
gia. The farm employed a staff of fifty people. As a long-time suc-
cessful businessman, he made certain the farm operated profitably
while producing peanuts, pecans, corn, soybeans, and an annual
harvest of timber.
A major project financed by Dr. Thomas and some farming
friends was a study at Washington University designed to boost the
yield of food and oil from peanuts. Nearly half the world uses peanut
oil for cooking and food. Thus, Dr. Thomas rationalized that any-
thing that improves peanut growing not only aids this country's
exports but also helps food and cooking oil supplies, particularly in
Asia and Africa.
Dr. Thomas maintained that America did not spend enough
money on basic research to keep abreast of other leading industrial-
ized countries. To promote such research in his own field of chemis-
try, he donated 3600,000 to Washington University to endow the
Charles Allen Thomas Professorship of Chemistry.
In addition to having farming interests, Dr. Thomas was an avid
hunter and superb marksman. He and his first wife, Margaret, were
distinguished skeet shooters and raised and trained hunting dogs,
especially Labrador retrievers. Dr. Thomas was also an airplane
pilot.
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CHARLES ALLEN THOMAS
283
An active member of the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Thomas received numerous
academic, civic, and professional awards, including the Perkin
Medal for the highest achievement in American industrial chemis-
try; the Palladium Medal of the Societe de Chimie Industrielle; the
Priestley Medal, the highest honor given by the American Chemical
Society; the Industrial Research Institute Medal for outstanding
achievement in administration of industrial research; the Deeds-
Kettering Memorial Award; the Missouri Award for Distinguished
Service in Engineering; the Golden Plate Award of the American
Academy of Achievement; the American Institute of Chemists'
annual Gold Medal in recognition of work in research administra-
tion; and the Eliot Society Award for distinguished service to Wash-
ington University. He served as President of the American Chemical
Society in 1948. In addition, Dr. Thomas was named the St. Louis
Globe-Democrat's Man of the Year in 1966. He received the Medal of
Merit from President Truman, the highest civilian award bestowed
by the United States, for his work on the Manhattan Project. He
was also engaged in a number of other governmental activities. At
various times he served as the Chairman of the Scientific Manpower
Advisory Committee of the National Security Resources Board, a
consultant to the National Security Council during the Eisenhower
Administration, and U.S. Representative to the United Nations
Atomic Energy Commission.
Dr. Thomas was a member of the American Philosophical Society,
American Institute of Chemists, American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, Chemical Society of London, National Citizens' Com-
mission for the Public Schools, Washington Academy of Sciences,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Electrochemical Society,
American Chemical Society, Chemists Club of New York, Phi Beta
Kappa, Sigma Xi, Alpha Chi Sigma, and the Cosmos Club of
Washington, D.C.
He was a curator of Transylvania College, a Fellow of the Ameri-
can Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of
the Board of Governors of the National Farm Chemurgic Council.
He served as a Board Member of the First National Bank of
St. Louis, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Rand Corpora-
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
tion, St. Louis Union Trust Company, Southwestern Bell Telephone
Company, and the Civic Center Redevelopment Corporation of
St. Louis. He was a Trustee of the Universities Research Associa-
tion, was a Founding Member of the National Academy of Engi-
neering, and served as the first Vice-Chairman of the St. Louis
Research Council.
Dr. Thomas was active on behalf of such organizations as Radio
Free Europe, Boy Scouts of America, United Fund and United
Community Campaigns of America, and, in St. Louis, the Herbert
Hoover Boys' Club and the St. Louts Globe-Democrat Fund for Chil-
dren. He was a long-time enthusiast and dedicated worker for the
greater St. Louis United Fund. In the year during which he served
as President 1963 the fund exceeded its quota and set a new
collection record of $9,740,000.
Dr. Thomas held fourteen honorary degrees from the following
U.S. colleges and universities: Washington University, St. Louis
University, Princeton University, Brown University, University of
Alabama, Ohio Wesleyan University, Lehigh University, University
of Missouri at Rolla, Hobart College, Kenyon College, Transylva-
nia College, Simpson College, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and
Westminster University in Fulton, Missouri.
Charles Allen Thomas inspired all who came in contact with him.
He was a selfless man of great stature a giant in the field of applied
science and technology in the service of the people and the Govern-
ment of the United States.
Dr. Thomas is survived by his wife, Margaret Porter Thomas,
whom he married in 1980; one son, Dr. Charles Allen Thomas, Jr.;
and three daughters, Mrs. Stephen O'Neil, Mrs. Theodore R. P.
Martin, and Mrs. James A. Walsh. His first wife, Margaret Talbott,
died in 1975.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
allen thomas
