Oral history interview with Roy G. Neville
- 2005-Jun-20 (First session)
- 2005-Jun-21 (Second session)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Roy G. Neville comments on his family and his childhood in Bournemouth, England during the start of World War II, while admitting that he was not very intrigued by his first chemistry lesson but enjoyed performing experiments. Neville eventually earned his master's degree and Ph.D. in the U.S. at the University of Oregon, later establishing Engineering and Technical Consultants, Inc. to help chemists in industry. As an entrepreneur, Neville spent more of his time and money on his rare book collection and the creation of The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library at the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
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About the Interviewer
James J. Bohning was professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he had been 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 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 CHF’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. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society. Bohning passed away in September 2011.
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| Oral history number | 0317 |
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
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| 1951 | University of London | BSc honours | |
| 1952 | University of Oregon | MSc | |
| 1954 | University of Oregon | PhD | Physical Organic Chemistry |
Professional Experience
Monsanto Chemical Company
- 1955 to 1957 Senior Research Chemist
Boeing Airplane Company
- 1957 to 1958 Senior Chemical Engineer
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company
- 1958 to 1961 Research Scientist
Aerospace Corporation
- 1961 to 1963 Member, Technical Staff and Polymer Chemist
North American Aviation
- 1963 to 1967 Principal Scientist
Boeing Science Research Labs
- 1967 to 1969 Head, Polymer Research Lab
Bechtel Corporation
- 1969 to 1973 Senior Scientist Specialist, Science Development Department
Engineering & Technical Consultants, Inc.
- 1973 to 2007 President and Consultant
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1951 | Fulbright Scholarship |
| 1951 to 1952 | Fellow, U. S. Public Health Service |
| 1953 to 1954 | Fellow, Research Corporation |
| 1963 | Fellow, Royal Institute of Chemistry, London |
| 1973 | DSc (hon. ), Royal Institute of Chemistry, London |
| 2004 | Founding of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library at the Chemical Heritage Foundation |
| 2004 | Lifetime Achievement Award, Chemical Heritage Foundation |
| 2004 | Establishment of the Roy G. Neville Fellowship, Chemical Heritage Foundation |
| 2006 | Establishment of the Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography, Chemical Heritage Foundation |
Cite as
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The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.