Mr. Aluminum

When Irving W. Wilson graduated from M.I.T. in 1911, he went to work for the Aluminum Co. of America with some misgivings. He feared that it had reached the peak of its expansion and that advancement might be limited. Last week Irving Wilson got final proof that his fear had been groundless: at 60, he became Alcoa's president. In his 40 years at Alcoa he earned the nickname "Chief," helped the company grow from a $21 million-a-year business into an empire whose 1950 sales were $476 million.

Chief Wilson's rise in Alcoa is as spectacular as the company's growth. From his first job as research technician he quickly moved on to assistant director of research. After serving as a major in chemical warfare during World War I, he went back to Alcoa and at 31 was in charge of Alcoa's aluminum reduction plants. At 40 he was vice president and running all the company's production. During World War II he supervised Alcoa's $300 million expansion, in addition was put in charge of the $450 million worth of plants run by Alcoa for the Government. In the Government's 14-year-old antitrust suit against Alcoa (TIME, Jan. 29), Vice President Wilson was the company's main witness.

With President Roy A. Hunt, 69, stepping up to chairman of the executive committee after 23 years as Alcoa's boss, Wilson was the only man for the job. Alcoa thinks he knows more about aluminum than any man in the world.

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