Named Lectures

The Fry Lecture Series

Art Fry joined the department in 1951 and played a major role in the establishment of the department’s doctoral program. For the next 40 years, he continued to provide leadership, serving two terms as department chair in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was educated in his home state of Montana, where he received a bachelor’s degree from Montana State University. After serving in the Navy during WWII, he worked for two years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He then received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, working with Nobel Laureate Melvin Calvin.

Fry earned worldwide recognition as the “father of heavy atom isotope effects in elucidating the mechanisms of organic reactions,” for his pioneering research in the use of C-13, C-14, N-15, Cl-37, and O-18 to study the mechanisms of ketone rearrangements and numerous other organic reactions. In 1985, he was awarded the American Chemical Society Southwest Region Chemist Award.

The Arthur Fry Lecture series began in 1997 through a generous donation from alumni, the late Ves Childs, M.S. ‘60, Ph.D. ‘63, and Holly Childs, B.S. 62, to honor the late Dr. Fry’s accomplishments and years of unselfish devotion to the department.

Ves Childs was a native Arkansan who obtained an undergraduate degree from Southern Arkansas University and a doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas.

Holly Childs holds undergraduate degrees in both mathematics and chemistry from the University of Arkansas, and a graduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tulsa. Both Ves and Holly Childs retired from research positions at the 3M Corporation.

Former Fry Lecturers

Dennis Dougherty, California Institute of Technology (October 2, 2023)

Tobias Ritter, Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (October 26, 2020)

Tadhg P. Begley, Texas A&M University (March 2, 2020)

Bruce Lipschutz, University of California Santa Barbara (April 10, 2017)

Kendall N. Houk, University of California, Los Angeles (November 2, 2015)

Ronald Breslow, Columbia University (April 1, 2013)

Michael Krische, University of Texas (April 2, 2012)

Donna G. Blackmond, Scripps Research Institute (January 24, 2011)

Dieter Seebach, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Zürich (April 26, 2010)

Robert Grubbs, California Institute of Technology (April 13, 2009)

Fraser Stoddart, University of California, Los Angeles (November 19, 2007)

Eric Anslyn, University of Texas at Austin (February 12, 2007)

Nate Lewis, California Institute of Technology (April 10, 2006)

Ernest Eliel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (May 2, 2005)

T. Don Tilley (September 22, 2003)

John Wood (2002)

Dan Singleton (2001)

Brian Fry (2000)

Tayyaba Hasan (1999)

Mary L. Good (1998)

Ves Childs (1997)