Jasper Kane
In this exhibit, the Giants of Poly handbook on Jasper Kane is presented. The booklet was published by Polytechnic University in 2004, providing a brief biography on one of the most important people to ever graduate from Poly. Below is a summary of the biography provided.
Jasper H. Kane graduated Polytechnic University in 1928 and played a crucial role in ushering in an era of mass-produced medicine - transforming the Charles Pfizer & Company and revolutionizing the production and distribution of penicillin. Jasper Hugh Kane was born in Brooklyn on July 15, 1903 to Jasper Thomas Kane and Loretta Sulpice O'Reilly. Jasper, the eldest of eight children, attended Polytechnic University's evening classes and majored in chemistry while working as a lab assistant at Pfizer, a job he began at the age of 16. After 10 years, Kane finally graduated, celebrating 10 years with Pfizer and his marriage to Isabelle Traviesas alongside his accomplishments from Poly.
While Kane was a student at Poly and only 22 years old, Pfizer transferred him to their citric acid fermentation deparment, tasking him with figuring out how to increase fermentation yields for citric acid. Kane figured out how to substitute much cheaper ingredients into the fermentation process as well as produce the acid in large deep tanks rather than shallow trays, saving the company millions of dollars in raw material and production costs.
In the heat of World War II, the British government tasked American scientists to develop the "wonder drug" penicillin in sufficient quantities to be used on injured, infected soldiers. President Franklin Roosevelt tasked leading drug companies including Pfizer with creating penicillin. In response to this need, Kane proposed the deep-fermentation process, a bold and radical move which necessitated a halt in Pfizer's most profitable business - making citric acid. Despite the clear risks and pushback from Pfizer executives, Kane and his colleague John McKeen (also a Polytechnic graduate) successfully built a plant and found a way to dilligently produce penicillin in large quantities. Pfizer soon became the world's largest producer of penicillin, which saved thousands of lives during the war thanks to the genius and innovation led by Jasper Kane.
Following this development, Kane searched for a new broad-spectrum antibiotic that could be used to treat countless diseases. Kane and his team scoured the world and finally found a new mold that was effective against a wide range of deadly bacteria. Kane promised that he could mass produce this mold in a consumable form and in response, Pfizer became a pharmaceutical company. Kane's accomplishments and innovations allowed a company that profitted off creating citric acid into one of the largest pharmaceutical giants that still exist today.
In the article "How Poly Saved the World", the same process of pencillin production is described.
In the eyes of some, Jasper Kane could be seen as the most significant graduate of Polytechnic, as he saved the lives of countless people during WWII. Even today, his brainchild Pfizer has saved countless lives with the development of the COVID vaccine. However, Kane never made a monetary contribution to Polytechnic University. Hence, the institution that honored Kane was simply just a dining hall. Even though he was an alumnus of the university, Kane was not involved with Polytechnic after his graduation. Because of this, Poly could not bring itself to dedicate a whole building to Kane. However, Poly still wanted to honor one of their most significant graduates and awarded him the Jasper Kane Cafe, shown below.
