The Leo Brewer papers, 1921-2004, comprise the correspondence, teaching materials, laboratory notes, writings, and research files of renowned chemist Leo Brewer, universally regarded as one of the founders of the field of modern high-temperature chemistry. Brewer served as Professor in the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1946-1989, and as Director of the Inorganic Materials Research Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1961-1975. The collection includes materials documenting Brewer's doctoral research on Mesityl Oxide and his wartime research as a member of the Manhattan Project, as well as his later research on high temperature thermodynamics, materials science, the study of metallic phases, and the development of metallic bonding theory.

Leo Brewer, American chemist, was born on June 13, 1919 in St. Louis, Missouri. Brewer received his undergraduate degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1940 and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942. He joined the Manhattan Project following his graduate work, and joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1946. Leo Brewer married Rose Strugo (d. 1989) in 1945. They had three children, Beth Gaydos, Roger Brewer, and Gail Brewer. Leo Brewer died on Feb. 22 2005, in Lafayette, California, at the age of 85.

Number of containers: 25 cartons, 2 boxes, 1 oversize folder Linear feet: 34.25 linear ft.

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Collection is open for research.