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BLACK ACHIEVEMENT
IN SCIENCE
18
BlackAchievement inScience:Engineering
As a child, Crosthwaitwould have enjoyed visiting Kansas City’s
Electric Park for rides and entertainment.
Crosthwaitwasborn inNashville,Tennessee,onMay27,
1898, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, by parents who
were widely respected members of that area’s burgeoning
black middle class. His father, David Nelson Crosthwait,
Sr., had earned a degree from Tennessee’s Meharry Medi-
calCollege in 1891 and settled inMissouri four years later
to teachphysiology and chemistry atLincolnHigh, an all-
black schoolwith famously rigorous academic standards.
Crosthwait’schildhoodcoincidedwithabuildingboom
in Kansas City, and several sparkling new skyscrapers, in-
19
DavidNelsonCrosthwait,Jr.
cluding the R.A. Long Building and the Scarritt Building,
began dotting the landscape. (Perhaps even more thrilling
to a child, in 1907 a large amusement park called Electric
Parkwas constructed,and itwas followed
shortly thereafterby theKansasCityZoo.)
It was an atmosphere certain to excite the
imagination of any aspiring young engi-
neer, and that, coupled with his parents’
emphasis on education, led Crosthwait to
Purdue University, in Indiana. There he
received a bachelor of science in 1913 and
a master of engineering in 1920. (In 1975
the university would award him an hon-
orarydoctoraldegree.)
After earning his bachelor’s degree,
Crosthwait—who had the deep under-
standing of
thermodynamics
,
fluid mechanics
,
andheat transfer required tobe anHVAC
engineer—took a job with the C.A. Dun-
ham Company, an Iowa-based manufac-
turer ofhigh-end commercialheating and
cooling systems. (It still exists and is now
called Dunham-Bush.) At the company,
where he remained until retiring in 1969,
Crosthwait became known for his innovative work in the
field ofHVAC, and served asdirector of research there for
several years. Some sources assert that without the indoor
climate control technology thathehelpeddevelop atDun-
The Scarritt Building,
an early high-rise,
still stands today in
Kansas City.
Actual Text Size
After earning his bachelor’s degree,
Crosthwait—who had the deep under
thermodynamics
,
fluid mechanics
and heat transfer required to be an HVAC
engineer—took a job with the C.A. Dun
ham Company, an Iowa-based manufac
turer of high-end commercial heating and
cooling systems. (It still exists and is now
Great achievements, innovations, and
inventions have been recorded both in recent
times and in the past by men and women of
color, and this series celebrates their work
and lives. By reading about how black people
from around the world have contributed to
our shared humanity, students of today can
be inspired to pursue their own dreams.
Titles include stories of award-winners and
groundbreakers in chemistry, computer
science, medicine, technology, and more.
IN A PERFECT WORLD, WE, LIKE
SCIENCE, WOULD NOT SEE
COLOR. UNTIL THEN, WE
CELEBRATE AND INSPIRE
WITH STORIES OF BLACK
ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE.