Rate My Professor Charles Waring

Charles E. Waring was a distinguished physical chemist specializing in chemical kinetics at the University of Connecticut, where he served as Professor of Chemistry from 1946 to 1979 and as Head of the Chemistry Department from 1946 to 1966. Born on January 24, 1909, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he earned his BS from Muskingum College in 1931, followed by an MS in 1934 and a PhD in 1936 from Ohio State University. Early in his career, Waring taught for ten years at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, advancing from instructor. In 1939, he received a prestigious Lalor Foundation fellowship to conduct research at Oxford University under Nobel laureate Cyril Norman Hinshelwood. During World War II, he contributed to the Office of Scientific Research and Development in England starting in February 1943, and later served as a technical advisor to the US Defense Department from 1946 to 1966.

At the University of Connecticut, Waring significantly expanded the Chemistry Department, growing the faculty from nine to twenty-two members, establishing one of the university's first doctoral programs, and advising twenty-four PhD students and nine MS students. His research focused on chemical kinetics, including studies on reaction rates, thermal decompositions, and surface tensions under pressure. Notable publications include 'Kinetics of the Thermal Decomposition of 1,1,1-Trifluoroacetone' (Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1970, with A.J. Fekete), 'The Effect of Pressure on the Surface Tensions of Liquids' (Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1957, with E.J. Slowinski and E.E. Gates), and 'Revisions for a Precision High Temperature Control Unit' (Review of Scientific Instruments, 1948, with S. Steingiser and G.J. Rosenblit). In the 1960s, he led innovative research on liquid rocket fuels through the UConn Rocket Institute's Project 25, served as technical director at the US Naval Ordnance Test Station in China Lake, California, and was a member of the US Army Scientific Advisory Panel. Waring's enduring impact is honored by the naming of the Waring Research Wing, containing 64 laboratories, in UConn's Chemistry Building in 1998.