Robert W. Parry photograph collection

Collection

Identifier: P0584

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection constits of images of Parry, friends and employees, Gordon Research Conference portraits, various experiments and a collection of slides detailing some chemistry classes taught in a non-traditional manner.

Dates

circa 1980

Creator

Parry, Robert W. (Robert Walter), 1917- (Compiler, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical / Historical

Robert W. Parry was born October 1, 1917 in Ogden, Utah to Jeanette (Petterson) and Walter Parry. He graduated from Utah State Agricultural College in 1940, receiving a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He received a master’s degree from Cornell University in 1942, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1946.

He married Marjorie Joyce Nelson July 6, 1945. They had two children, Robert Bryce Parry and Mark Nelson Parry.

Parry was a professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan from 1946 to 1969. In 1969, he came to the University of Utah as a distinguished professor of chemistry, and he served in this capacity until 1997. Among his awards, Parry received the Manufacturing Chemists Award for College Teaching in 1972, a Senior United States Scientist Alexander Von Humbolt-Stiftung Award in 1980, the Priestley Medal in 1993.

Parry was the was the founding editor of Inorganic Chemistry from 1960 through 1963, served as the President of the American Chemical Society in 1982, and was an active member from 1973-1983.

Parry died December 1, 2006

Sources: https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/longtime-u-chemist-robert-w-parry-dies/

Extent

0.2 Linear Feet (1 archives box) : 80 items

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Robert W. Parry photograph collection photographs of Parry, friends and employees. As well as Gordon Research Conference portraits, various experiments and a collection of slides detailing some chemistry classes taught in a non-traditional manner.

Most of the slides are of the reenactments of the Faraday Christmas Lectures that the Chemistry Department did each year, hugely popular with controlled explosions and other spectacular effects. Usually scheduled for the general public and run on two consecutive evenings. The two main characters doing the lecture were Ron Ragsdale and Jerry Driscoll. These are early pictures since they went to black coats and top hats later. After their 2005 performance as Faraday and his assistant, Ragsdale and Driscoll retired from demonstrations and lectures.

Notes on the Faraday lecture given by Judith Kaplan and Dennis Sauer on March 4, 2024