Abstract
PROF. PERRY'S love of research and restless spirit of inquiry have inspired the lives of innumerable students who came under his influence. Who can measure what the nation owes to Perry for the intellectual gifts he distributed so freely to so many men? Who can measure the boundaries to which his influence will reach through the lives and activities of his students? The man who inspires is in time forgotten, but those whom he stimulates inspire others, so that his influence in- creases as time goes on. An engineering work like a fine bridge can be seen of all, and the builder is applauded and rewarded. The scientific spirit is apprehended by few, and those who possess it and spend their lives in the true service of the nation by cherishing it and by passing it on to others are unknown and unrewarded by authority, but are held in respect and affection by those who receive from them what so few are able to give. Perry gave lavishly, and his students responded with enthusiastic affection. He ranged wide in the regions of science. In Japan he and his friend and colleague Ayrton experimented furiously. Paper after paper came red-hot from their intellectual forge until even Lord Kelvin said that the pole of scientific research had shifted to Japan.
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D., W. [Obituaries]. Nature 105, 752–753 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105752a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105752a0