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Interview no.: 0049
Date of interview: 25 August 1986 and 22 January 1992
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. of pages: 99
Interviewer:
Peter J.T. Morris, Jeffrey L. Sturchio
Minutes:
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In the first interview, Walter Stockmayer describes early influences directing him towards the chemical sciences. Stockmayer first became interested in the mathematical aspects of physical chemistry as an undergraduate at MIT. A Rhodes Scholarship brought Stockmayer to Oxford, where he undertook gas kinetics research with D. L. Chapman. Stockmayer returned to MIT for Ph.D. research and pursued his study of statistical mechanics, which he later continued at Columbia. He returned again to MIT in 1943 as an assistant professor of chemistry and became involved in the theory of network formation and the gelation criterion. Stockmayer increasingly directed his attention to theories of polymer solutions, light scattering and chain dynamics. The second interview begins with Stockmayer's Guggenheim Fellowship in Strasbourg, France, his first meeting with Hermann Staudinger in Freiburg, Germany, and his subsequent return to MIT. Stockmayer then moved to Dartmouth University in 1961, where he worked primarily on copolymers in dilute solution, established the journal Macromolecules, and collaborated with numerous Japanese scientists. He discusses his impression of the Gordon Conferences and the polymer community since the 1940s. Stockmayer concludes with his retirement and work as a consultant for Du Pont and other companies.
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| Title & Description |
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Page No. |
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Childhood and Early Education
Growing up in New Jersey. Influence of father, an organic chemist. High school interests. |
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1 |
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Undergraduate Education
Settling in as freshman at MIT. Faculty, lecture and laboratory courses. Senior Project. |
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4 |
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Oxford University
Rhodes scholarship. D. L. Chapman and research on catalyst poisoning. Oxford dons and colleagues. Graduate Studies PVT relations for hydrocarbon mixtures. Theoretical interests. Fellow students. |
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10 |
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Columbia University
Joseph and Maria Mayer, mathematical treatments. Colleagues at Columbia. Flory and gelation theory. |
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21 |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Changes in faculty and direction of chemical research interests. Light scattering and polymer solution theories. Gordon Research Conferences. Effect of computers on polymer solution theory. |
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27 |
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Guggenheim Fellowship
Strasbourg, France. Impression of European polymer chemistry. Final years at MIT. |
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46 |
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Dartmouth University
Reason for move. Paper on copolymers in dilute solution. Colleagues and students. Impression of Dartmouth. NRC Army Research Advisory Committee. ACS Polymer Division Chairmanship. Founding of Macromolecules. Impression of polymer community and Gordon Conferences. |
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51 |
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Work in the 1970s
Collaboration with Japanese scientists. Sabbatical in Freiburg. Retirement. |
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66 |
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Consulting at Du Pont
Nature of academic/industrial collaboration. Mechanics of consulting. Consulting with other companies. Relationship with Paul Flory. Family. |
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73 |
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Notes
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81 |
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Index
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88 |
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| 1935 |
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S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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| 1937 |
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B.Sc., University of Oxford |
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| 1940 |
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Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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| Columbia University |
| 1941-1943 |
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Instructor |
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| Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1937-1938 |
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Teaching Fellow in Chemistry |
| 1938-1941 |
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Instructor and Research Fellow |
| 1943-1946 |
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Assistant Professor of Chemistry |
| 1946-1952 |
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Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry |
| 1952-1961 |
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Professor of Physical Chemistry |
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| Dartmouth College |
| 1961-1962 |
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Professor of Chemistry |
| 1962-1967 |
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Class of 1925 Professor |
| 1963-1967 |
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Chairman, Chemistry Department |
| 1967-1979 |
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Albert W. Smith Professor |
| 1973-1976 |
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Chairman, Chemistry Department |
| 1979-Present |
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Professor Emeritus |
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| 1935 |
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Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University
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| 1946 |
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Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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| 1954 |
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Guggenheim Fellowship
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| 1955 |
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Stas Medal, Société Chimique de Belgique
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| 1956 |
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National Academy of Sciences
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| 1958 |
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Bourke Lecturer, Faraday Society
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| 1960 |
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College Chemistry Teacher Award, Manufacturing Chemists Association
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| 1966 |
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Polymer Chemistry Award, American Chemical Society
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| 1972 |
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Honorary Doctorate, Université‚ Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg, France
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| 1974 |
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Debye Award in Physical Chemistry, American Chemical Society
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| 1975 |
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High Polymer Physics Prize, American Physical Society
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| 1976 |
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Honorary Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford
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| 1977 |
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Honor Scroll, Massachusetts Institute of Chemists
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| 1978 |
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Humboldt Preis, Humboldt Foundation, West Germany
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| 1982 |
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Distinguished Lecturer Award, Polymer Science Department, University of Massachusetts
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| 1983 |
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Honorary L.H.D., Dartmouth College
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| 1987 |
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Service Award, Division of Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society
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| 1987 |
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National Medal of Science
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| 1988 |
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Richards Medal, Northeastern Section, American Chemical Society
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| 1988 |
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Polymer Chemistry Division Award, American Chemical Society
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Peter J. T. Morris is currently at the Department of the History of Science and Technology of the Open University, where he is Royal Society-British Academy Research Fellow. Morris was educated at Oxford University receiving his B.A., chemistry in 1978; D.Phil., modern history in 1983, and he was a Research Fellow at the Open University from 1982 to 1984. During the period 1985-1987, Peter Morris was Assistant Director for Special Projects at the Beckman Center. He was the Royal Society-British Academy Research Fellow at the Open University, Milton Keynes, between 1987 and 1991, and Edelstein International Fellow in 1991-92. He is author of the monographs, Archives of the British Chemical Industry, 1800-1914 and Polymer Pioneers; his volume The American Synthetic Rubber Research Program was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in December 1989. Morris also co-edited Milestones in 150 Years of the Chemical Industry in 1991 and The Development of Plastics in 1994.
Jeffrey L. Sturchio is Executive Director, Public Affairs, Human Health Europe, Middle East & Africa, at Merck & Co., Inc., where he is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of a range of policy and communications initiatives for the region. Before assuming his current position in 1995, he was Merck’s Director, Science & Technology Policy, in the Corporate Public Affairs Department from 1993 to 1994; and Associate Director, Information Resources & Publishing, from 1992 to 1993. After a sojourn on the senior staff of the AT&T Archives, Dr. Sturchio joined Merck & Co., Inc. as Corporate Archivist in June 1989. He received an A.B. in history from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania. He was Associate Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry from 1984 to 1988, and has held teaching appointments at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Pennsylvania as well as a fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
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