Hudson Maxim

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Hudson Maxim

Born	February 3, 1853 Orneville, Maine
Died	May 6, 1927 Post Office in Landing, New Jersey
Relatives	Hiram Percy Maxim Hiram Stevens Maxim

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Hudson Maxim (February 3, 1853 – May 6, 1927), was a U.S. inventor and chemist who invented a variety of explosives, including smokeless gunpowder. He was the brother of Hiram Stevens Maxim, inventor of the Maxim gun and uncle of Hiram Percy Maxim, inventor of the Maxim Silencer.

A man of many trades, started his career as publisher of books about penmanship and the sale of articles related to penmanship, like special inks and pens. Later he joined his brother Hiram Stevens Maxim's workshop in the United Kingdom, where they both worked on the improvement of smokeless gunpowder. After some disputes, Hudson Maxim returned to the USA and developed a number of stable high explosives, the rights of which were sold to the DuPont company.

During World War I Maxim wrote a book "Defenseless America", in which he pointed out the inferiority of the American defence system and the vulnerability of the country against attacks of foreign aggressors. His good friend, Albert Hubbard, died on the RMS Lusitania when it was torpedoed by a German submarine. This event fueled his belief that the USA should improve its defenses and join the war against Germany on the side of the Entente.

Maxim also wrote the book "The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language" about the nature and writing of poetry. In this work he contended that words, like chemical particles, had natural laws that governed the manner in which they could be combined into verse, and that poetry perceived as excellent was in fact one that conformed to those laws. He also argued that certain famous poets (William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth) had discovered those laws and put them to use in their poetry.

During his experimental career, he lost his left hand in a mercury fulminate explosion. Hudson lived out his latter years at his estate on the shores of Lake Hopatcong New Jersey.

[edit] Further reading

Hudson Maxim, Reminiscences and Comments. By Clifton Johnson, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1924.
Defenseless America. By Hudson Maxim, Hearst's International Library Co. 1916.
The Science of Poetry and The Philosophy of Language. By Hudson Maxim, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1910.
Dynamite Stories. By Hudson Maxim, Hearst's International Library Co. 1916.