Professor Jay K. Kochi Papers

Collection

Identifier: 2009-023

Staff Only

The Jay K. Kochi Papers contains 81 boxes. The collection is organized into eight series: Research and Publications, Correspondence, Financial, Biographical/Awards, Lectures, Photographs, Audiovisual Materials, and Digital Materials. The collection contains copies of Kochi's publications, correspondence regarding the publications, correspondence to and from Kochi, documents regarding grants and other financial matters, lecture images, biographical information, and floppy disks and CDs. Materials in the collection span from the 1946 to 2008 with the bulk of the collection dated from 1970-2000. From 1968 until 1984 Kochi worked at the University of Indiana and some of the collection covers his work there, but the majority of the collection is from Kochi's time at the University of Houston, 1984-2008.

For preservation and access reasons, the files have been reboxed and refoldered. Kochi gave each of his publications a unique identifying number from 1 to 573 and recorded publication information in a key. Manuscripts, drafts, and correlating correspondence have been filed in numerical order based upon Kochi's unique identifying numbers. Offprints of Kochi's publications have been separated from the manuscripts and filed numerically as well. Correspondence not related to manuscripts has been filed alphabetically, and attachments pertaining to specific correspondence have been kept with that correspondence. Financial documentation and lecture images have been kept in original order whenever possible. When available, original folder names have been maintained.

Dates

1946-2008
Majority of material found within 1970-2000

Creator

Kochi, Jay K., 1927-2008 (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access:

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use:

Special Collections owns the physical items in our collections, but copyright normally belongs to the creator of the materials or their heirs. The researcher has full responsibility for determining copyright status, obtaining permission to publish from copyright holders, and abiding by current copyright laws when publishing or displaying copies of Special Collections material in print or electronic form. For more information, consult the appropriate librarian. Reproduction decisions will be made by Special Collections staff on a case-by-case basis.

Extent

123.00 linear feet

Additional Description

Biographical Information:

Jay K. Kochi (May 17, 1927-August 9, 2008) was a chemistry professor known for developing a one-carbon oxidative degradation of carboxylic acids known as the Kochi Reaction. As a teenager, he was interned at a war relocation camp in Arizona. Shortly after graduating from high school, he studied at the University of California at Los Angeles and later received a doctorate from Iowa State University. He was a professor of chemistry at Case University, the Earl Blough Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, and the Welch Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston. He also taught at Harvard and served as a National Institute of Health fellow at Cambridge University. Early in his career he worked with exploratory chemistry for Shell Development Company. Kochi was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the Alexander Von Humbolt U.S. Senior Scientist Award, a recipient of the American Chemical Society's Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, and recipient of the James Flack Norris Award.