With anthracite coal mining at its peak, one man’s concern over the safety of miners blossomed into a school that would educate millions worldwide. Thomas J. Foster came to Scranton in 1888. Prior to that, he served as publisher of the Mining Herald, a journal based in Shenandoah, from 1870 to 1880. Frequent mining accidents in that community took the lives of some of his closest friends. Mr. Foster saw what he believed to be the primary cause of these disasters: mine foremen lacked knowledge of the science of mining and the fundamental principles of the machinery they were required...