1934
Harold Urey was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of "heavy hydrogen"; Minot,
Murphy, and Whipple shared a Nobel Prize for their work on liver therapy; Carothers of
DuPont produced a synthetic latex fiber known as nylon; Armstrong perfected multiplex FM,
and television patents were awarded to Zworykin and Farnsworth. After escaping from an
Indiana jail using a wooden pistol in March, John Dillinger was killed outside a Chicago
theater in July. Washeteria, one of the first laundromats, opened in Fort Worth, Texas. New
York City grew dim as vicious dust storms swept through the West and South and up the east
coast. Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow) were killed in a police ambush on May 23. William
Beebe descended to record depth of 3,000 feet in his bathysphere. Bruno Hauptmann, an illegal
German immigrant, was held for kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. Americans were reading
Fitzgerald's
Tender is
the Night;
Hilton's Goodbye,
Mr. Chips;
and Robert Graves'
I,Claudius.
• Charter Amended • All-American Football
• Chemistry Degrees • Tennis Courts
• Pep Rally Bonfire • Old Coins Found
• Ice Carnival Events • Student Paper Honored
• Ice Carnival Romance • Baseball Scoreboard
• Hockey Champions
Charter Amended.
The New York State Regents amended Clarkson's charter to authorize the
College to grant the honorary degree Doctor of Engineering.
Chemistry Degrees.
Clarkson's first three degrees of Bachelor of Chemistry were awarded.
This was the first class required to earn total honor points equal to graduation hours (144 at the
time). Fall enrollment dropped from 371 in 1933 to 346.
Pep Rally Bonfire.
Prior to the St. Lawrence-Clarkson football game, the freshmen, members
of '38, spent the better part of the day gathering wood for a bonfire on the Clarkson estate near
Snell Field, and piling it high. Once it was ready, three freshmen were left on guard. These
three, however, were outwitted in their lonely vigil by the "Larries" who set it on fire before the
rest of the Clarkson students could arrive to begin the pep rally. Fortunately, the freshmen class
rallied, and gathered another large supply of wood, so that when the rest of the "Techers"
arrived, there was another good blaze going.
Ice Carnival Events.
Events for the Fourth Annual Ice Carnival began with
Grace Law of the Adirondack Skating Club performing Spirit of Ice Carnival. This
was followed by the crowning of the Ice Carnival King and Queen wearing the
same royal robes used by the world-famous radio announcer and world traveller
Lowell Thomas and his queen at the Lake Placid Ice Carnival several weeks
before, and preceded by 10 children in appropriate costumes bearing the crowns
on pillows. Then came the grand parade of student skaters in varied costumes, a
single skating number by Lorraine Bryant of the Adirondack Figure Skating Club,
