Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2008 | Page 8

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Irving Backman is Distinguished Alumni Award Winner
At baccalaureate this
year, Irving A. Backman ’43
was presented with the 2008
Distinguished Alumni Award.
While at TA, Backman
worked after school in a
nearby textile mill and shoe
factory for 13 cents an hour.
After graduation, he attended Bowdoin College for
a year before enlisting in the
Army Air Corps during World
Irving Backman
War II. Following his 1945
discharge, he started a small
wholesale and retail shoe
store and attended Northeastern University’s evening
business school and law school. He graduated from
law school in 1951 as class marshall.
While he’s been a member of the Massachusetts
Bar for more than 55 years, Backman has never
practiced law but instead used his legal and business
talents to support technological innovation with the
goal of improving the world.
During his career, Backman has funded or initiated a wide variety of significant high-tech projects
such as industrial and surgical laser technology, a
system for continuous roll system laser printing, and
he helped to develop the drug Interferon.
He has also extended his expertise to a series
of mining programs in Columbia, South America,
as well as hydrology research and development in
drought areas, and he has worked with Native American reservations to develop their natural resources in
an environmentally sound manner. In addition, Backman funded research and helped develop the Vectrix
electric motorcycle, which in the past year has been
approved for road use in more than 50 countries in
Europe and Asia – cutting down on pollution and
traffic congestion.
An avid runner and frequent participant in TA’s
Alumni Cross Country meets, Backman figures he
has put in enough miles to circle the globe three
times.
He has been married to his wife Charlotte, a Colby College graduate, since 1952 and they had three
children. Unfortunately their daughter Joan died at
age 24. One of Thornton’s science labs is named in
her honor.
Currently Backman is working on new solutions
to our energy crisis. One is to generate a high-quality,
pollutant free synthetic gas or oil from coal, oil shale
or tar sands, which we have in abundance in the U.S.
and could use to help solve our energy and security
needs. He is also researching the feasibility of growing algae for conversion into biofuel and is working
with the Thornton Academy Science Department on a
project using various strains of the organism to test
the concept (see story at right).
Finally, Backman recently became involved with
a clean technology initiative with the Combined
Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, a major
philanthropic organization. They are working with a
number of high-tech universities and other research

Alumnus Supports “Green” Science Class at TA
In an effort to enhance the science
department at Thornton Academy, Irving A.
Backman ’43 has supported the creation of
the TA Environmental Research Collaborative at his alma mater.
Thanks to Backman’s vision and financial support, students are growing algae
and learning about how it might be used to
produce energy or control pollution.
“There are many reasons researchers
grow and study algae,” said teacher and
project coordinator Christy Lajoie. “It could
potentially be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, clean up wastewater or make
biodiesel fuel. There are lots of environmentally sound things that may come from it.”
The joint venture provides Thornton
students with hands-on scientific experience, allows them to understand the collaborative nature of research projects, and
gives them an understanding of “green”
markets. This is a significant development
at TA as concerns about the cost of fossil

fuels, the use of toxic chemicals and the effects of global warming are on the rise.
There are nearly 30,000 known species
of algae, the largest of which are called seaweed. Algae are photosynthetic like plants
but are more simple since they lack organs.
There are 12 students at Thornton Academy working on the project. As the collaborative gets underway, they are focused on the
conditions that produce the largest quantity
of the one-celled microalgae indoors. So far
this year they have conducted experiments
using different types of artificial lights, for
example, and are determining what level of
nutrients provide optimal algae growth. The
students will also meet with experts in the
field at Maine colleges like the University
of New England and have offered to work
with the city of Saco on projects like wastewater filtration. The latter could involve the
production of plant or tree life, including
willow trees or bamboo trees, as an aid to
water filtration, which would reduce chemicals and power use due to the high
nutrient level of wastewater.
Thus in subsequent years,
Lajoie expects students may study
how different varieties grow outdoors or possibly in a greenhouse
on campus, if one c