Edwin Wilbur Rice Jr. (6 May 1862 in

La Crosse La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 20 ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

– 25 November 1935 in

Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) was a president and considered one of the three fathers of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(along with

Elihu Thomson Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electricity, electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Early life He ...

and

Charles A. Coffin Charles Albert Coffin (December 31, 1844 – July 14, 1926) was an American businessman who was the co-founder and first president of General Electric corporation. Early life He was born in Fairfield, Maine, the son of Albert Coffin and his wif ...

Early life

He attended the Boys' Central High School in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and was a student of

. Rice graduated in 1880 and considered going to Yale but decided to join Thomson in

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, at the American Electric Company as Thomson's assistant at $30 a month.

Career

In 1883 he continued with Thomson, and moved from New Britain to

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, to work for the newly formed

Thomson-Houston Electric Company The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company that was one of the precursors of General Electric. History The company began as the American Electric Company, founded by Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston. In 1882, Charles Al ...

. There he worked on converting Thomson's inventions into manufactured products. In 1885 he became the factory superintendent when John Meech moved to Europe to head up Thomson-Houston International. Under Rice the Lynn factory grew from almost nothing in 1883 to an enterprise with $10 million in sales and 4,000 employees in 1892. Primary products included arc light systems, electrical generators, dynamos, meters, transformers, and electric motors. By 1892 the primary products were electric trolley car systems: the company had built over 2700 electric trolley cars and 870 electric generator stations. The entire factory reported to Rice and in 1890 supervisors who reported to him included D. M. Barton - Production Manager, I. F. Baker - Mechanical Superintendent, G. E. Emmons - Factory Auditor, W. H. Knight - Chef Electrical Engineer, and A. I. Rohrer - Chef Assistant. In 1892

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

was created after a merger with Edison General Electric. Rice was originally its technical director. He became, in 1896, vice president in charge of manufacturing and engineering, and eventually senior vice president. In 1913 he was chosen president of the company replacing

who moved on to be the chairman of the board of GE. When Rice retired in 1922 was made honorary chairman of the board. Rice was elected president in 1917 of the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States–based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Inst ...

(AIEE). He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1928. In 1931 the AIEE awarded him the

Edison Medal The IEEE Edison Medal is presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts." It is the oldest medal in this fi ...

"For his contributions to the development of electrical systems and his encouragement of scientific research in industry."

References

* Hammond, John Winthrop. ''Men and Volts, the Story of General Electric'', publishecd 1941. Citations: personal interest in young experts - 166, steam turbine interest - 275; work on Niagara power plant plans 235; superintendent at Lynn - 87; Thomson-Houston organization plan 102; Technical Director of GE 197; VP in charge of Engineering and Manufacturing 247; President of GE 349; Honorary Chairman of the Board 382. * Carlson, W. Bernard. ''Innovation as Social Progress, Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900'', published 1991, Cambridge University Press.

External links

IEEE Legacies Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Elwin 1862 births 1935 deaths People from La Crosse, Wisconsin American electrical engineers IEEE Edison Medal recipients General Electric people Members of the American Philosophical Society