New Statue at University of Utah Honors President Henry B. Eyring’s Father

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By Mary Richards, Church News

A new statue at the University of Utah honors renowned chemist Henry Eyring, who was the founding dean of the university’s graduate school and the father of President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At the unveiling on Saturday, April 12, President Eyring spoke about his father’s love for God, for people and for chemistry.

“He saw himself as a person whose main purpose was to help people, that that’s what God would want him to do,” President Eyring said.

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also attended the unveiling. He and two of his siblings earned degrees in chemistry from the university — bachelor’s degrees for him and his brother and a doctorate for his sister.

Elder Renlund wrote in a post on social media that President Eyring’s remarks at the ceremony were the highlight for him.

“He spoke insightfully and lovingly about his father. Often, President Eyring did so in endearingly self-deprecating ways,” Elder Renlund said.

Said President Eyring: “Other families had pingpong tables in their basements. We had blackboards.”

The statue is located in the atrium of the Henry Eyring Chemistry Building, and shows the scientist smiling, sitting on a stool and holding a model of a molecule.

“When I look at this, I cry,” President Eyring said. “That smile is the smile he always had when he taught about chemistry, and he was trying to lift people. That’s what he did.”

Henry Eyring developed the absolute rate theory, known as the Eyring equation. He wrote over 600 scientific papers and 10 volumes on research such as the theory of liquids, optical rotation, rate processes in biology and medicine, aging and cancer, anesthesiology and more.

Peter Armentrout, interim chair of the university’s chemistry department, said Henry Eyring’s contributions to theoretical chemistry have “fundamentally shaped our understanding of chemical kinetics, and I know that for a fact, because I do chemical kinetics and I use some of his principles all the time.”

Henry Eyring was presented with the National Medal of Science in 1966 by Lyndon B. Johnson and received the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1980. He was also nominated for a Nobel Prize multiple times during his life.

He served as dean of the university’s graduate program and as a professor of chemistry and metallurgy from 1946 until his death in 1981, at age 80.

Elder Renlund wrote that when President Eyring suggested that he would do adequately if he could just use the equations he had been given, his father said, “No, let’s develop it from first principles,” and the tutelage would begin.

Said Elder Renlund, “We have noticed that President Eyring follows this advice in his talks. These talks frequently start with first principles that then lead to wise counsel for us.”

President Eyring said his father could not separate his science from his faith. In a 1983 biography, Henry Eyring was quoted as saying, “Is there any conflict between science and religion? There is no conflict in the mind of God, but often there is conflict in the minds of men.”

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And, after the renowned chemist gave a keynote speech at an annual meeting of the American Chemical Society as its president, President Eyring told him, “Dad, I think you bore your testimony.” In response, his father said, “Did I?”

In the statue unveiling ceremony on Saturday, Elder Renlund said President Eyring followed his father’s example.

“It was impossible to separate his testimony of the Lord and His work from his laudatory reminiscences of his dear, late father,” Elder Renlund said. “What a joyous day this was for all who attended.”

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