Preliminary Inventory of the LeRoy Eyring Papers

Collection

Identifier: 2001-02328-2002-02515

Scope and Content Note

This collection houses research notes, photographs, reports, and other materials documenting Eyring's chemical research and work on two projects, The Solid State Chemistry of Rare Earth Oxides and Extended Defects in Flouride-Related Oxides. This collection has not been processed in full and can be viewed only by appointment. Contact Ask An Archivist for more information.

Dates

Creation: 1950-1991

Creator

Eyring, LeRoy (Person)

Language of Materials

Material in English

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own copyright to this collection. University Archives recognizes that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Biographical Note

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Chemist LeRoy Eyring was born to Edward Christian Eyring (1868-1957) and Emma (Romney) Eyring (1884-1957) in Pima, Arizona on December 26, 1919. Emma Eyring was the second of Edward Eyring's two plural wives; Edward's first wife was Emma's sister, Caroline Cottam (Romney) Eyring (1874-1954). Leroy Eyring was the sixteenth of the family's seventeen children, including Rouge (1893–1987), Camilla (Eyring) Kimball (1894–1987), Mary (1898-1979), Henry (1901–1981), Edward Christian (1903–1983), Catherine (Eyring) Edwards (1905–2006), Anthony Ivins (1905-1989), Caroline (Eyring) Miner (1907–1999), Ruth (Eyring) Williams (1908–2003), Isabel (Eyring) Ellsworth (1909–1975), Joseph C. (1910–1996), Maurine (Eyring) Boyd (1912–2007), Rose (Eyring) Calder (1912–2009), Ethel (Eyring) Taylor (1916–2009), Jeneveve (Eyring) Layton (1917–2016), and Margaret (1922–1926).

Eyring followed his oldest brother, Henry, into chemistry and earned his B.S. from the University of Arizona in 1943. He began his Ph.D. studies at the University of California at Berkeley but put his education on hold in 1944 to enlist in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a radar officer on the U.S.S. Schroeder until 1946. After being discharged, he returned to Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1949. Eyring began his career at the University of Iowa in the same year and went on to earn National Science Foundation, Guggenheim, and Fulbright-Hays research grants that allowed him to work in Europe and Australia between 1958 and 1960. Upon his return to the United States, he accepted a position at Arizona State University, where he served as Chairman of the Chemistry Department beginning in 1961. During his tenure, Eyring built the department into a nationally recognized program and established the Center for Solid State Science (now called the LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science). He was named a Regents' Professor of Chemistry in 1988 and published extensively. Eyring died in Arizona on November 28, 2005.

LeRoy Eyring married Ruth LaReal Patton (1923-) on July 21, 1941 and the couple had four children, Michelle (Eyring) Dow, Patricia (Eyring) Castalia, Cynthia (1951-2006), and Gregory.