Walter Joseph Murphy
1899-1959
Walter J. Murphy Passes A w a y Editorial Director of the ACS Applied Publications served the Society for seventeen years
At t h e age of 60, death brought to a close, on N o v . 26, t h e 17-year association of D r . Walter J . M u r p h y with t h e American Chemical Society's Applied Publications. H e h a d entered Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., about a m o n t h previously, subsequently undergoing surgery. D r . M u r p h y h a d been active in his editorial capacity and in Society affairs up to t h e time of his entry into t h e hospital. As recently as last September he had returned from a six-week visit t o E u r o p e , during which he attended t h e X V I I t h Congress of t h e International Union of P u r e a n d Applied Chemistry at M u n i c h . Such activity was typical of D r . M u r phy throughout a varied career. I n a lifetime which saw engagement in such diversified positions as research chemist, m a r k e t analysj, a n d vice president of a chemicals-distributing firm, he found time t o maintain membership in m a n y organizations, b o t h professional and social. His activity was reflected in the fact t h a t he became a n administrative officer in several of these. P r o b ably in p a r t because of his wide background in various phases of t h e chemical industry, he was able t o make a smooth entrance into t h e publishing field when he was appointed managing editor of Chemical Markets, later to b e come Chemical Industries. This t u r n ing point in his career came in 1930, nine years after he h a d received his baccalaureate in chemistry from t h e Polytechnic I n s t i t u t e of Brooklyn. Another nine years, and he became editor and general manager when the p u b lication changed ownership. His tenure with Chemical Industries was a fruitful one, a n d b y 1942 he h a d established a reputation for enterprise and imagination. I t was in t h a t year t h a t t h e ACS Board of Directors, searching for a successor to t h e late Harrison E . Howe as editor of Chemical and Engineering News a n d Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, a p pointed D r . M u r p h y to t h e post. H e was also made director of t h e ACS News Service.
This was t h e beginning of a period during which t h e publications' staff has expanded in number from ten persons to a current total of about 100. Sixteen of t h e present staff members base their operations a t five field offices scattered throughout the United States and G r e a t Britain. At t h e time t h a t D r . M u r p h y assumed his new responsibilities, A N A LYTICAL C H E M I S T R Y did not exist as a
separate entity. Papers dealing with analytical aspects of chemistry were published in t h e ANALYTICAL E D I T I O N of INDUSTRIAL AND E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY.
It was not long, however, before some of D r . M u r p h y ' s ideas on publication transformed this and other m a t t e r s of publishing policy and practice. H e recognized t h e need early for t h e advice of experts in t h e profession as to how best to establish a definitive policy. Consequently he made several changes in t h e concept of t h e Advisory Board of t h e journal. He enlarged it to include members from a wide spectrum of the analytical profession. H e limited t e r m s of a p p o i n t m e n t so t h a t one third of its members were changed every year, t h u s giving each member a threeyear term while yet maintaining a large degree of continuity in its operations. Best of all, he sought its advice a n d m a d e it an active body in dealing with policy problems. There were other changes. H e established t h e position of Science Editor as an additional step toward assuring technical competence in t h e journal's program. First appointee to the post was the present editor. T h e journal encouraged t h e acceptance of technical papers on instrumentation a n d inaugurated a monthly column on t h e subject written by D r . R a l p h Millier. of
I n 1947, t h e old ANALYTICAL E D I T I O N INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING
C H E M I S T R Y was separated from its parent a n d became a separate publication under its present name, ANALYTICAL C H E M I S T R Y .
These and other changes did much t o
contribute to the stature of the journal. Paid subscriptions are now 26,000 a n d the number of pages devoted to contributed technical papers has increased from 707 in 1943 to 2148 in 1959. During the time he was effecting these changes, D r . M u r p h y ' s editorial influence helped stimulate establishment of t h e Beckman and Fisher Awards, and t h e Merck Fellowships. He was also instrumental in starting the
ANALYTICAL
CHEMISTRY
"Funda-
mental and Applied Reviews" a n d in establishing t h e annua! Summer Symposia, in which ANALYTICAL
CHEMIS-
TRY shares sponsorship with t h e ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Thus, he was influential in arousing a d ditional interest in analytical chemistry as a profession. Concurrent with his activities with regard to ANALYTICAL C H E M I S T R Y , he
found time to undertake t h e establishment of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the Journal of Chemical mid Engineering Data, a n d t h e International Edition of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. H e also sparked t h e inauguration of Advances in Chemistry Series, which now includes 23 titles. I n 1955, t h e A C S Board of Directors made D r . M u r p h y Editorial Director of Applied Publications, a title more descriptive of his varied responsibilities t h a n Editor, which he held since 1943. Extraprofcssionally, Dr. M u r p h y was no less active. He traveled continually, being much in demand as a speaker before ACS local sections and other organizations. He was active in t h e various divisions of t h e Society, serving on executive committees of half a dozen. He served his Government repeatedly, including postwar technical service in Germany in 1945, as technical representative at the Bikini atom bomb test in 1946, a n d membership in various advisory committees. D r . M u r p h y also took a continuing interest in t h e encouragement of young students to enter t h e professions of chemistry and chemical engineering.
