Purdue News

December 17, 2000 Jischke sends off last Purdue grads of 20th century WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue President Martin C. Jischke encouraged the last group of Purdue graduates from the 20th century to remember the advancements for the past 100 years while preparing for the changes of the new century. Jischke address students today (Sunday, 12/17) during the first of two commencement ceremonies in the Elliott Hall of Music. Approximately 2,950 students were eligible to participate in West Lafayette commencement ceremonies today. "Your commencement will always remembered as the last of the 20th century, one of the most remarkable periods of all history," Jischke said. "This is a century that profoundly changed agriculture and engineering and veterinary medicine and technology. In 1900 a group of your soon-to-be fellow alumni sat at this university and went through ceremonies remarkably similar to the one today. "The entire 20th century lay before them. What thoughts must have passed through their minds that day as they daydreamed through the commencement speech? "Did they think about air flight? It was a subject of interest at that time, but there were no aviation technology students in that class. It would be three more years before the Wright Brothers found the 'right stuff' at Kitty Hawk. "A few lucky members of Purdue's Class of 1900 -- born in the age of horses and buggies lived long enough to watch a fellow Purdue graduate walk on the face of the moon." "We can only wonder how the Purdue University Class of 2100 will look back on us. You will see changes in your new century even more dramatic than those witnessed by the Class of 1900. One hundred years from now people will look at this turn of the century, and they will be appalled at how we lived. "You will be the ones who will help to bring about these changes. When the Class of 1900 graduated, scientific breakthroughs were happening all around them. In 1900, Thomas Edison invented the nickel-alkaline storage battery; the modern pendulum seismograph for the detection of earthquakes was invented; the great German physicist Max Planck announced the basis of the quantum theory in physics. Members of the Class of 1900 witnessed all of this, looked to their futures, saw the incredible possibilities and worked to see many of them come true. Jischke noted that although the 20th century saw great achievements, it also saw great sorrows. "Members of the class of 1900 witnessed many, many wonderful things they never even dreamed would happen, and unfortunately also many horrors that they never could have conceived. "There was tragedy early in the century. Only nine months into the year 1901, William McKinley was assassinated. Teddy Roosevelt became president. War, worldwide depression, horrifying inhumanities also marked the 20th century. "But mankind persevered. "Like the Class of 1900, you are graduating into a new age full of possibilities, as well as perils. None of us can say with any certainty what waits in the future. "But it is a century that is poised to be even more exciting, fast-paced and life-changing than the 100 years just past. To get a glimpse -- just a bare glimpse --into the possibilities of the 21st century, we have no further to look than one of the scientific breakthroughs of this year 2000 that is ending. Scientists have mapped the human genome. This will lead to developments in the 21st century that we cannot yet even imagine. "As you graduate today and march off into the 21st century, I wish you the courage to dare mighty things to dream mighty dreams and then to work them into reality. "I leave you today with a thought from the most famous Purdue graduate of the 20th century -- Neil Armstrong. Long after he returned from the moon, Armstrong said: 'I believed that a successful lunar landing could inspire men (and women) around the world to believe that impossible goals were possible.' "As you graduate today -- if we have learned anything from the 20th century, it is this: Your impossible goals will become very possible, in the exciting new century that now lies just several days away." Source: Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708 Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371, jmwillis@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page