George R. Waller Papers

Collection

Identifier: 2016-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection contains correspondence, clippings, photographs, research files, publications from Dr. George Waller, biochemistry professor at Oklahoma State University. Waller brought the first Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer into the US.

Dates

check

Creator

Waller, George R., 1927-2015. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the Oklahoma Open Records Act (http://www.odl.state.ok.us/lawinfo/docs/2006-LibraryLaws-PartE.pdf), and other relevant regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Oklahoma State University Libraries assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, Oklahoma State University Archives will provide information about copyright owners and related information. Securing permission to publish or use material is the responsibility of the researcher. Note that unless specifically transferred to Oklahoma State University Libraries, any applicable copyrights may be held by another individual or entity. Copyright for material published by Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College/Oklahoma State University is held by the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. All rights reserved.

Further information about copyright policy can be obtained by contacting Oklahoma State University Archives by email at libscua@okstate.edu or by phone at 405-744-6311.

Biographical Sketch

George R. Waller (July 14, 1927-March 23, 2015) was born in Clinton, NC to George Rozier Waller, Sr. and Lola Jane (Phillips) Waller. Waller served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He married Hilda Marie Lorimac in 1947.

Waller graduated from North Carolina State University in 1950 with a BS in Agricultural and Biological Chemistry. He graduated with an MS in Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1952. He joined the Department of Biochemistry at Oklahoma State University in 1956, and completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry there in 1961. He was granted professor emeritus status in 1987.

Waller's pre-eminent venturewas introducing the Mass Spectrometer to the field of Biochemistry. In 1963, as a visiting professor on an NIH Fellowship in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Nobel Medical Institute with Hugo Theorell, Nobel Laureate, and Karolinska Institute, he assisted in the design of the LKB-9000 Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer prototype (GCMS) with Dr. Ragnar Ryhage, which was installed in the Waller lab in Stillwater at OSU in 1965. This instrument was used at OSU to carry out many of the pioneering studies in the U.S. on mass spectrometry including identification of natural compounds; it now resides at the Smithsonian Institution.

A full biography of Dr. Waller can be found in the repository.

Extent

7 Linear feet (initially 7-8 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Location

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog or contact the Oklahoma State University Archives Reference staff.