Memory
Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
As background I wish to say that Henry Eyring influenced me more than any other person outside of my family. I grew up in the Monument Park Ward with the Eyrings. Henry Eyring was my home teacher, my Sunday School Teacher and the one speaker I was always excited about listening to. Ted Eyring was my Physical Chemistry Professor and wrote a recommendation for me to Stanford University. Hal Eyring was my teachers quorum adviser and later my bishop at Stanford, and Harden was a year older and an associate. I might add that I have been a professor of Materials Science for 27 years at Rutgers University in New Jersey, not far from Princeton, and one of my students won the prestigeous Wigner fellowship named after Henry Eyring’s associate at Princeton. I know many stories about Henry Eyring but I will tell just one.
Story: My Ph.D oral qualifying exam at Stanford had five sections. For each we would appear in an office with two professors who would quiz us on a subject. For kinetics I appeared before Professors Shyne and Pound. The question I was asked was to derive the Eyring kinetics equation. Before I started Professor Shyne commented, “That should be easy for Cannon. He comes from Utah.” I blurted out, “Yes, I know Henry Eyring well. He was my Sunday School teacher.” In response Professor Pound commented, “yes, I remember meeting Henry Eyring at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. A bunch of us Jewish fellows were standing around talking. Henry came up to us and started kidding us that to a Mormon we were all gentiles.” I often think of this incident and how Henry Eyring was not afraid of bringing up his religion among colleagues. I am also impressed with the story about his telling Einstein about the beliefs of our church.