Call Number:

002.002

Repository:

Science History Institute Archives

Extent:

1 linear feet (1 box; ca. 46 print photographs)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Collection or item title, Othmer Library of Chemical History, Science History Institute..

Date:

1951-1996 (inclusive)

Creator:

Parr, Robert G., 1921-2017

Form:

Photograph collections and Photographs

Abstract:

Black and white and color print photographs documenting the personal and professional life of professor and chemist Robert G. Parr and his colleagues.

Robert G. Parr was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1921. He attended Brown University and received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1947, where he studied under Bryce Crawford. He subsequently taught at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Parr was an important theoretical chemist best known for contributing to the formulation of what came to be called the Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) method for predicting electronic spectra, in conjunction with his pupil Rudolph Pariser and the research of Sir John Pople. In the latter part of his career he devoted his energy to the Density Functional Theory. Parr's accomplishments include writing over 200 scientific articles, supervising over 100 doctoral and post-doctoral students, and membership in several professional organizations including the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, where he served as President. Parr also received honorary degrees from the University of Leuven in Belgium (1986) and Jagiellonian University in Poland (1996).

For a more detailed inventory, please view this record in our library catalog: https://othmerlib.sciencehistory.org/record=b1075451~S6

This collection contains black and white and color photographs related to Robert G. Parr from 1951 to 1996. Many of the photographs are of a personal nature, including snapshots of colleagues and holiday cards with family photographs. Notably, Rudolph and Louise Pariser and Inga Fischer-Hjalmars are represented. Other photographs document Parr's professional activities including Parr receiving honorary degrees and groups of people at conferences, as well as some formal portraits of Parr and various colleagues. Several black and white snapshots of Parr's graduate students are pasted to black cardboard with captions adhered below.