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Mary Jo Nye, OSU's Horning Professor of the Humanities and History, responds to a student's presentation in Milam Hall Tuesday.

Honored Horning history professor to retire

Mary Jo Nye teaching last class at OSU after 39-year career with honors, achievements

By: Taryn Luna

Posted: 6/4/08

It's late in the afternoon and the sun is barely peaking above the clouds outside Milam Hall.

Inside, Mary Jo Nye, Oregon State's Horning Professor, sits quietly in a graduate class of 11 students and listens to a presentation, steadily taking notes and rarely showing any facial expression.

The presenter jokes about a scientist's thorough study of dung, "he really knows his s---," he says, which causes Nye to peer over the top of her glasses and crack a smile.

Nye's scholarship interest is in the history of chemistry, the physical sciences and the scientific elite.

In 1994, Robert and Mary Jo accepted the opportunity to share the Thomas Hart and Mary Jones Horning Professorship of the Humanities and of History at Oregon State University and have organized the Horning Lecture Series ever since.

This is Nye's final course.

"I taught at the University of Oklahoma for 25 years and have been here at OSU for 14 years. That's a long time," Nye said. "I've decided to cut back and the only way to do that is to retire."

Linda Richards is a graduate student of Nye's who is studying nuclear history.

Prior to choosing Oregon State for graduate school, Richards contacted scholars around the country asking for help in researching her topic of nuclear history.

Nye was the only one to reply.

"She manages to knit science, controversies, history and politics together and to synthesize it in a way that's almost magical," Richards said.

"I'm really going to miss her; she's a fantastic teacher, very committed to every single student. She's the reason why I'm here."

Mary Jo's husband of 40 years and retired Co-Horning Professor at Oregon State, Robert Nye, is continuously amazed by her dedication to her work.

"Mary Jo is very much a scholar, with a scholar's temperament, a scholar's curiosity and a scholar's persistence. She's written several book-length projects in 35 years," Nye said.

"If Mary Jo is composing, she can continue typing and actually answer questions I ask her about unrelated topics. She can completely focus and engage in a dialogue. If she's working on some part of the scholarly process, she doesn't get up for hours. She just sits and works; it's quite astonishing."

Among a seemingly endless list of honors and accomplishments, Nye received the History of Science Society's Sarton Medal for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement in 2006, an award given to an outstanding historian of science by the international scholarly community.

"It's one of the best honors you can receive, although it makes me feel old," Nye said.

Nye grew up in Nashville Tennessee and can remember riding the bus to the public library every Saturday with her mother as a 5-year-old.

"I was always a voracious reader," Nye said.

Nye's college educated parents expected her to attend college and do well in school.

Nye became interested in science shortly after the launch of Sputnik when the United States poured money into science education. She attended a strong academic high school and had dreams of becoming a chemist or a science journalist, while working as the editor of the school newspaper.

She began her college career at Vanderbilt University, before transferring to the University of Wisconsin.

Robert was a first year grad student in history at the University of Wisconsin when they met.

"She had a very broad southern accent and I was convinced that anyone who spoke that way couldn't have any brains and could have no knowledge at all," Nye said. "She was this typical southern girl wearing white shoes; the little buck socks, a pleated skirt and frosted hair. She looked very exotic and she was very pretty. Once I had enough conversations with her I realized I just had to get past the accent."

To his surprise, Mary Jo was sweet, tolerant and didn't display a shred of racism, in opposition to what he expected from southern girls in the civil rights era. To his delight, she was progressive, liberal and very intelligent.

Nye chose to continue her studies at Wisconsin and received a Ph.D. in the history of science in 1970 at the age of 25, becoming a minority in the field as a female.

"She's just delightful, always a pleasure. She's on point, offers great advice and doesn't confuse issues or let personal interfere with work. I'm really going to miss her," said Paul Farber, the retiring chair of OSU's history department.

"I've known her a long time as a contemporary and a friend… I run lots of thing by her and value her opinion. She's a very considerate person."

Ron Gray, a graduate student in science education, will miss Nye for different reasons.

"I'm sad she's leaving because she's great and will be hard to replace… and her and her husband throw great parties, they are very good cooks," Gray said.

The Horning endowment has enabled the Nyes to host numerous dinner parties and receptions and to open their beautiful Corvallis home to students and colleagues alike. They love to cook and they specialize in French Cuisine, an effect of summers spent researching in Europe.

Nye will devote the early stages of retirement to finishing her book, a biographical study of distinguished physical chemist and philosopher of science, Michael Polanyi, and is considering a joint project with her husband.

"I do intend to take up playing the piano again, which I haven't done in years. I'll have time to read more novels and this really sounds like retirement, but I might get out in the yard and do more gardening," Nye said.

Mary Jo and Robert will be sharing an emeritus office in Oregon State's history department. She plans to continue advising some students, offer assistance to the future Horning Professors and will give a series of lectures in Vienna in the summer of 2009.

Taryn Luna, staff writer

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231