Raymond F. Boyer

Raymond Boyer begins the interview with a brief description of his family, childhood, and school days in Ohio, touching on his early interest in electricity. He then tells of his undergraduate and graduate years at Case Institute of Technology, focusing on the influence of the faculty there. In discussing his career at the Dow Chemical Company, Boyer provides accounts of discoveries and innovations, especially involving polystyrene; several leading figures there, including Willard and H. H. Dow; and major organizational changes that occurred during his career. Concluding with a summary of his most recent research at the Michigan Molecular Institute, Boyer includes an interesting anecdote involving a Canadian chemist with the same name.

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1935 - 1945

Physicist

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1945 - 1945

Group Leader

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1945 - 1948 Assistant Director

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1948 - 1952 Director

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1949 - 1952 Secretary, Executive Research Committee

This group, consisting of Dr. William R. Veazey, chairman; Dr. Edgar C. Britton, vice chair; and R. F. Boyer, secretary; was responsible for Dow's R&D operations for a three-year period following the death of Willard H. Dow, president, Dow Chemical, in a plane crash in March 1949. This committee ceased to operate when Ray A. Boundy was appointed as the full-time research director for Dow.

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1952 - 1969 Director of Plastics Research

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1969 - 1972 Assistant Director, U.S. Area Research and Development (Polymer Science)

Dow Chemical Company Physics Laboratory (Physical Research Laboratory)

1972 - 1975 Research Fellow

Michigan Molecular Insitute

1975 Research Professor and Affiliate Scientist

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.