Willis H. Flygare
Willis H. Flygare (July 24, 1936 – May 18, 1981) was an American physical chemist and a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He was born in Jackson, Minnesota, to Willis B. and Doris H. Flygare. His family had Scandinavian roots.
He studied at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and graduated in 1958 with majors in chemistry, physics, and mathematics. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1961.
Flygare joined the University of Illinois as a chemistry professor in 1961 and remained there until his death at age 44 from Lou Gehrig disease (ALS). He is known for his important work on how electrons are arranged in molecules. He invented a highly sensitive pulsed-beam, Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer. He also developed a method based on the molecular Zeeman effect to measure molecular quadrupole moments and magnetic susceptibility anisotropies.
In 1981, he received the Irving Langmuir Award. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The University of Illinois honors his legacy with lectures in his name and a memorial fund. He is remembered as one of the most creative and dynamic physical chemists in the world.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:52 (CET).