I found another misfiled contact sheet the other day–they’re easy to get wrong because the images are so tiny. We see on this sheet several chemists, two that I recognize and two that I don’t. Since I had so much success getting you to identify the people in last week’s picture, I thought I’d try again. This may be a bit harder, though. These photos are definitely older, but I’m not sure exactly how old. (Sometimes chemists can have a sort of timeless quality about them.) They’re also a little scratched up, but it’s definitely still worth a look.
The first fellow is very easy–it’s Bob Curl, looking pretty much exactly the same as he does today. Someone mentioned in the comments last week that he looked so different in the picture of the masters and college presidents. It’s the suit and tie and the short haircut that make him hard to recognize there. This picture here is almost certainly older than that one, so I can only conclude that Curl was going through some kind of phase in 1970.
He looks happy, doesn't he?
Then there are the two that I don’t recognize. If you have any thoughts, please let me know:
The other guy I recognize I’m saving for later. I promise it will be a nice story.
Bonus: When I came into campus this morning, I saw something I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
Extra Bonus: I realized this afternoon that Public Affairs people are constantly making me get my picture taken, but you never see a picture of one of them. So here’s one, messing with his cell phone.
unknown-chemist: Louis Griffin? If so, he eventually became assistant (Assoc. VP) to VP for Research John Margrave, both retiring around 1987. Margrave was definitely a chemist; I never knew Griffin before he was in the VP’s office.
unknown-chemist-2: This looks like a very young Edward F. Hayes to me. If so, here’s some background on him with dates as best I can recall. He served two terms as Chairman of the Committee on Computers in 1971-73. He left Rice around 1973, going first to NSF’s theoretical chemistry directorate for 8 years, and then to another federal agency for 15 years (OMB is what comes to mind, but somehow that seems wrong). He returned to Rice in 1987 as VP for Info Systems and Research (inaugurating VP for IS and replacing the retiring John Margrave as VP for R). He left Rice at the end of the 1990-91 academic year to become VP for Research at Ohio State where he passed away at the age of 54 at the end of the 1994-95 academic year.
Thanks! I’ll go back and look in our faculty photo files and see if we have any identified pictures of Griffin and Hayes. I had absolutely nothing to go on and I really appreciate your help. I’ll let you know what I find.
The first is definitely Lou Griffin. Don’t think he was ever in chemistry.
It looks a bit like EF Hayes to me as well. He was my freshman Chem 101 teacher in the fall of 1974, but I have a very vague memory that he left sometime shortly after. By the spring we had Ron Sass, but I have no memory if he was still on the faculty at that time.
Not a bad teacher, but it seemed a bit like he was a frustrated magician at times. I do remember he was quite involved with the soccer club at the time, as well.
I don’t know if Hayes initially remained a Rice employee while at NSF or if he became a government employee. NSF filled positions for a small number of years by reimbursing the person’s home institution for the amount the person was paid at NSF. The home institution paid the employee. However, to the best of my knowledge that arrangement was only allowed for 2-3 years. After that, you either had to become an NSF employee or leave.
Hayes definitely returned to Rice in 1987 as a VP and as a faculty member. He was my supervisor as VP.
He seems to have had quite an interesting career at Rice. I may do a longer post about him in the future. Thanks!
You made me laugh there, Don. So where was he, then?
Could the unknown Professor in Chemistry have been a Theorist, circa 1962ff? If so, ask Phil Brooks or Bob Curl, who would have worked with him.