The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kinnicutt, Leonard Parker

KINNICUTT, Leonard Parker, American chemist and sanitary expert: b. Worcester, Mass., 1854; d. 1911, Educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Heidelberg and Bonn, he became instructor of chemistry at Harvard (1880-83) and full professor of chemistry (1885-90), being appointed, on the latter date, head of the chemistry department of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He carried on extensive chemical investigations, extending them to the effects of chemical action on sewage. This and other more practical work made him one of the greatest sewage experts in the United States, He also gave a great deal of attention to the supply of water, its purification and preservation from impurities. His connection with the Connecticut Sewage Commission in the capacity of consulting chemist gave a very practical turn to his laboratory experiments of which he made full use. In his capacity of associate editor of The Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry he wrote a great deal on industrial chemistry in all its many phases; but all this material, with the exception of some recast and incorporated in 'Sewage Disposal' (1910), has remained unpublished in separate book form.