The subject of the advanced organics class this week is rate laws and transition states. With that, there have been many different names thrown around, Hammond, Morse, and the like. But none have been more prominent than Henry Eyring.
Eyring was born in a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) colony in Mexico in 1901. When he was about 11 years old, the family moved to Pima, Arizona by way of El Paso, Texas. He showed apititude for science and math, and after studying mining engineering, metallurgy, and chemistry, he pursued his graduate studies at UC Berkeley. He was recruited to Princeton where he taught for 15 years until he was offered a position at the University of Utah. He was elected president of the ACS in 1963 and the president of the Association for the advancement of science in 1965.
His religion was very important to him. He was a devout Mormon and wrote many books and papers on the subject of Science and Religion. Of his three sons, two went into science and education, while a third, Henry B. Eyring, is a prominent leader in the Latter-day Saint church.
It is arguably this reason that Eyring never received the Nobel Prize for his work. He developed Transition State Theory, one of the most important developments in chemistry ever, and some received Nobel Prizes based on his work. The Royal Swedish Academy of sciences apparently did not understand his contributions until after his death in 1981, however some argue that there was prejudice against him for his quirky personality and his religious beliefs. He eventually received the less prestigious Berzelius Medal in 1977.
What this means to you, the undergrad: Do science for the love of science. Make breakthroughs for the sake of advancing human understanding; any prizes are merely nice afterthoughts.
-Woodward
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