In the fall of 1919, World War I was just ending. Prohibition had just become the law of the land and Warren G. Harding had just been elected President of the United States. Wallace B. Fleming was the President of West Virginia Wesleyan College. President Fleming, along with Dean Thomas W. Haught (who taught Chemistry in addition to his duties as the Dean) hired a 33 year old Chemistry Professor named Nicholas Hyma.
Haught writes:
When, at the opening of school in the autumn of 1919, the College needed a teacher of Chemistry, President Fleming, having the address of one possibility for the position said to the writer, “Well, we’ll take a chance on him, I guess, and send him a telegram.” A day or two later Dr. Hyma saw Buckhannon and Wesleyan for the first time. Dr. Hyma found the department lacking equipment and poorly organized. He didn’t characterize it that way; he was too considerate. He went quietly about his work taking time to get acquainted with all its details. By the time that was accomplished he was putting so much of his personality into his work, and with such good effect, that his classes were overflowing with students eager to pursue his courses.
Until then the work of the department was all housed in the basement rooms on the north side of the Science Hall. More room was now needed. The unused rooms on the first floor above were appropriated. New courses in Chemistry should be offered. These, in turn, required more laboratory room and storage. Basement rooms on the south side of the building and the south-side-front-corner room on the first floor were made available.
His predicessor (Haught himself) who had been trying to do two pieces of work that were incompatible, in that they pressed for his presence in two different places at the same time, has taken great satisfaction in watching the expansion of the work in Chemisty and he hopes that Dr. Hyma has the heritage of long life and good health.
It would have been just too bad for Wesleyan College if, in 1919, the President had not taken a chance and sent a telegram.
For nearly four decades Hyma continued to pour himself into his work. But, more than just the work he poured himself into the very fabric of the college.
1920s
As women were given the right to vote in 1920, Hyma was hard at work encouraging girls to study chemistry. His students became leaders in the chemical industry nationwide and at all levels.
During this decade sound motion pictures were just beginning, Yankee Stadium was being built, Time Magazine published its first issue, the Indian Citizenship Act was passed, NBC Radio Network was formed, Lindberg and Amelia Earhart were making famous flights, Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their debut, Al Capone was making headlines in Chicago, and the Stock Market crashed, throwing the country into the Great Depression.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Hyma was instrumental in establishing intramural sports at Wesleyan and on the committee to launch Greek life on campus. He organized the first student union, and in 1920 started the Benzine Ring for chemistry majors. Several national chemistry fraternities tried to establish Chapters at Wesleyan, but since they did not admit females, Dr. Hyma would not consider them because he believed in equal rights.
Chemical dicoveries were being made during this decade as well, with the discovery of penicillin in 1928. Virginia Fisher, one of his students put together a book of reminiscences from his former students in which she wrote:
When penicillin was developed in England by Fleming in 1928, none was available in the United States. When word went out that Allegheny Hospital in Pittsburgh had failed in an attempt to produce penicillin, Dr. Hyma and one of his students went to the Hospital and obtained their results. He took their results to Wesleyan and, with the aid of other faculty, worked to develp the penicillin. For several years, he made weekly trips to Allegeny Hospital to supply them with the drug.
1930s
In the 1930s, the Great Depression had an impact on everything. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had Fireside Chats with the country on the radio, Social Security was begun as part of the New Deal, Gone With the Wind was published, Orson Welles terrified people with his War of the Worlds, and Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Summer Olympics under the watchful eye of Hitler.
Wesleyan honored Nicholas Hyma with a Doctor of Science Degree in 1936.
Dr. Nicholas Hyma led the way, through research, and created the Hyma Chemical Laboratories, hiring students to help package his products in order to earn a few dollars. One of these products was a remedy for poison ivy.
Because of the economic hardships during the Great Depression, several faculty members, including Dr. Hyma, had second jobs to help them financially. The Hyma Chemical Laboratory was one of these, and he paid some of his students to help bottle and label the products to give them some extra pocket money.
In addition, he did coal analysis for local coal companies, water analysis, and from time to time was called upon by local law enforcement for what we could now consider forensic help. All of these things were in the realm of Applied Chemistry, and he taught classes in these topics as well. Thus, many students learned chemistry skills that later translated into very successful research careers.
In the May-June, 1936 issue of the West Virginia Wesleyan Alumni Magazine, Linda Arnett, Class of 1936, wrote a wonderful description of life in the Chemistry Department. You can read it here, on page 7.
1940s
This decade saw the world reeling from World War II. The first peacetime conscription draft was implemented, there were Japanese Interment Camps, the first Atomic Bomb was developed and deployed, more than 425,000 troops died on the beaches of Normandy, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, NATO was founded. The transister was invented, the Big Bang Theory introduced, and Willard Libby introduced the concept of Radiocarbon dating.
As the Director of the Wright Field Trainee program from 1945-46, Professor Hyma assisted the war effort by working with the soldiers who were stationed at Wesleyan, training them as engineering aides and as fuel and lubricant inspectors. The March 1944 issue of the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bulletin reported that:
Professor Nicholas Hyma and his staff have been highly complimented for the excellent manner in which they have conducted the training and for the fine equipment placed at the student’s disposal. There are fifty trainees enrolled in the program and Dr. Hyma said assurance had been given that the program will continue. Following the war a number of these trinees plan to continue their college education at Wesleyan College.
1950s
Although the Korean conflict was a factor and the Cold War was begun, the world was much calmer overall in this decade. Soldiers had come home and were taking advantage of the GI Bill to pursue their education. The McDonald’s Franchise was incorporated and Disney Land opened in Anaheim. Brown vs the Board of Education ruled that racial discrimination was unconstitutional and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. The first polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk, and the Double Helix DNA Model made its debut.
And still Nicholas Hyma taught on.
The May 11, 1951 issue of Science incuded a story entitled, “The Origins of American Scientists” in which they listed the top 50 schools in America whose students had gone on to earn a Ph.D. in the field of science. Wesleyan was listed as number 37 on that list – the only school in West Virginia and one of a few schools in the south. Credit for this accomplishment was generally placed at the feet of Dr. Hyma.
From Harding to Eisenhower and Fleming to Scarborough, and from World War I through the atomic age, Dr. Nicholas Hyma was in his element at West Virginia Wesleyan College. When offered a high-paying and prestegious position elsewhere, he stated, “I declined the offer because I would rather teach West Virginia boys and girls chemistry.”
He died on November 13, 1956 after a three week illness. He died exactly one week after Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. At his request, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered around Haymond Hall of Science.
His colleagues, students, and friends published a memorial booklet in celebration of the man. Some called him Nick. Some called him Doc. You can read it here.
Today
The Wesleyan community of today often attends events in Hyma Auditorium, which is located in Christopher Hall of Science, but many do not know the story of the man for whom it is named.
I believe that he would be pleased with the excellent Chemistry faculty of today. They are, indeed, carrying on – as are their students.
