Memory
“Little Fellows”
New graduate students in chemistry at Princeton 30 years ago soon came to accept the fact that Henry Eyring could see molecules. Henry spent eight to ten hours a day in his office talking with students and co-workers. After about an hour with him one would emerge into a new world in which the “little fellows,” John and Joe and Sam, as Henry called them by name, were still dancing about in the friendliest way imaginable. Thus Henry showed how the ornery behavior of complex systems could often be tamed by a kindly approach to the molecules. With blackboard, chalk, and a relentless discussion, many mysteries were unraveled.