Edward L. Wagner (1915-1975) was a distinguished physical chemist and a member of the Chemistry Department faculty at Washington State University from 1949 to 1975. He attended high school in Los Angeles, CA, and earned his B.S. degree from the University of California at Berkeley (1939) and his Ph.D. from Brown University (1948). He was a member of the Manhattan Project research team at the University of California and at Oak Ridge, TN, from 1942 to 1946.
He received many honors and awards, named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in England, and a Fulbright-Hays research award in Japan. At Washington State University, his main research interest was in the nature of the binding in compounds of nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus. His work in quantum chemistry involved complex calculations, and he was an early adopter of computer technology to support this research.
This collection consists of professional papers of Edward L. Wagner, Professor of Chemistry at Washington State University.
Preliminary inventory:
Box 1. Binders: Hokkaido University, Kyoto University, Japanese Language, M.O. Calculations, Q.C.P.E. Programs, Beckman Instruments; WSU Computing Center News. 1960s-1970s.
Box 2. Binders: Optical Equipment, 1950s; IBM Manuals, 1968-; Computing Center Newsletter ("Time Slicer"), 1966-1971; Computing Center News, 1968-1969; Computing Center Use Stats; Perkin-Elmer, 1950s.
Box 3. Binders: Instrumentation, 1930s-1950s; Program Listings; Chemistry Department and staff materials; miscellaneous.
Boxes 4-9. Mixed files: research, professional meetings, calculations, vendors, WSU committees, correspondence.
This is an unprocessed collection. Any arrangement reflects either a pre-existing order from the records' creators or previous custodians, or preliminary sorting performed by staff.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Preliminary Guide to the Edward L. Wagner Papers, circa 1937-1976 (MS.1984.45)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Juanita Wagner donated this collection of her late husband's papers to the Washington State University Libraries in 1984 (MS.1984.45).
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.