Gano Dunn

Gano Sillick Dunn (October 18, 1870 – April 10, 1953) was an American electrical engineer who served as the president of Cooper Union. He was an early chairman and CEO of the United States National Research Council.

Son of Civil War veteran General N. Gano Dunn and Amelia Sillick, Gano Dunn was born in Yorkville, New York. With a prospering law practice, General Dunn raised Gano and his younger brother Harris, across from Central Park, as befitted one of the "best-known lawyers in the city". Inspired by his paternal grandfather, schoolteacher and inventor Nathaniel Dunn, young Gano was encouraged in both scholarship and practical invention.

In 1883, when Gano was twelve, he accompanied the former Mrs. Maria G. Robins Caswell to Europe. They were there met by General Dunn. With the General and Maria masquerading as man and wife, Gano traveled Europe for a year and half. By 1886, General Dunn's whereabouts were unknown to his wife Amelia and New York society.

At the age of fifteen, while attending City College of New York, Gano began to work for as an operator for the Western Union Telegraph Company. During this period, in March 1887, Mrs. Maria Robins filed a lawsuit against Gano's mother, Mrs. Amelia S. Dunn, over a deed to a New York City property. In 1884, under pressure from her "runaway husband", Mrs. Dunn had been forced to transfer the property, then valued at $18,000, to General Dunn's office clerk, Henry G. Hunt for a single dollar. Hunt then transferred the deed to Mrs. Robins. Attempting to maintain her interests, Mrs. Dunn gave a second deed to her sister-in-law, who then transferred this second deed to Mrs. Dunn's sister. With affidavits filed by her estranged husband from Canada, and testimony from Mrs. Robins, the case stretched until November 1887. Mrs. Amelia Dunn finally won the lawsuit and the Hunt/Robins deed to the property was invalidated.

As a young college student, Dunn visited the laboratory of Thomas A. Edison.

"Out of an almost infinite kindness for young men who were struggling, Mr. Edison received me in the midst of some laboratory work he was doing in the coating of laminated armature plates. Seeming to be interested in the questions I asked him, he drew me out in turn, and spent an hour personally showing me over his lamp works. .. . At the end of the visit, he offered me a job."

— Gano Dunn, Edison Medalist, 1937 : Presentation Ceremonies at Winter Convention, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, New York, N. Y.".

Dunn declined Edison's job offer and continued pursuing his college degree. In 1889, the nineteen-year-old earned a Bachelor of Science degree while graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Continuing his education at Columbia University, Dunn's life was changed by assisting Nikola Tesla.