SAN ANTONIO--Tom Slick, the founder of the Southwest Research Institute would have turned 100 this week on May 6.
He was born the son of an oil baron, but chose a life devoted to science and adventure.
H. Norm Abramson PhD, knows the history of Southwest Research Institute and its founder Tom Slick like the back of his hand.
"The first project was automatic shelling of Pecans,” said Abramson.
Abramson watched the influence of Tom Slick spread across the world. He started working at the Institute in 1955, less than a decade after it opened in 1947.
"It's not too much hyperbole to say that he brought science to San Antonio,” said SWRI Communications Director Tim Martin.
From automotive work in the 1950s, to agriculture and inventions, and eventually to deep sea and outer space. Along with helping to shape the history of technology and engineering, outside of the Institute, Tom was an adventurer and had an interest in all different types of cultures around the globe.
"Tom Slick is like the 1940s version of the most interesting man in the world,” said Martin.
His art gallery holds priceless Picasso pieces, other fine art and incredible artifacts.
"The guy would fund expeditions to the Himalayas to search for the Abominable snowman, he would fund expeditions to Scotland for the Loch Ness monster,” Martin said.
But his greatest accomplishment is his legacy.
"We have 1200 acres and over 2 million square feet of offices and laboratories,” said Martin.
Tom Slick passed away in a plane crash in Montana in 1962 at the age of 46.