Carl F. Eyring

Carl Ferdinand Eyring (August 30, 1889–January 3, 1951) was an acoustic physicist. He served for nearly 30 years as dean of Brigham Young University's (BYU) College of Arts and Sciences.

Carl F. Eyring 1914

Eyring was born in Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico to Henry Eyring and Deseret Fawcett.

Eyring was also a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as the first president of the New England Mission from 1937 to 1939.[1] During this time, Eyring exerted efforts to keep Latter-day Saint students at Harvard University, MIT and other Boston-area institutions of higher learning active in the church.[2]

Eyring was the uncle of the noted chemist Henry Eyring, who was father of Henry B. Eyring, of the LDS Church's First Presidency. Carl Eyring was married to Fern Chipman, a daughter of Stephen L. Chipman. She was the sister of Lorena Chipman, who was the wife of Harvey Fletcher.[3]

From 1924 until 1951, excepting his time as mission president, Eyring served as the dean of the college of Arts and Sciences at BYU. During some of this time he also served as a member of the General Board of the Deseret Sunday School Union.[4]

Eyring was a popular professor; in the words of a BYU student of the time, Spencer W. Kimball, he was "[t]he swellest professor on the whole faculty".[5] (However, because this is a quote from a letter Kimball wrote to Eyring's niece, Camilla (who Kimball would soon marry), it must be read in that context.)

Eyring personally supervised the building of a new science building on BYU campus in the late 1940s. When the cement was laid for the building, Eyring sprayed it with a special hose to help it cure better. It is said that this cement never cracked. Shortly after the building was dedicated, Eyring died from cancer which had afflicted him for many years. In 1954, it was renamed the Carl F. Eyring Science Center in his honor.

Loren C. Dunn was among those who studied under Eyring.