Thomas H. Walnut

Thomas H. Walnut, 89, professor emeritus of chemistry at Syracuse University, died on Sept. 28, 2013, of heart failure.

Born in Philadelphia, Walnut served briefly with the Army in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He earned an A.B. in chemistry at Harvard University in 1947 and a Ph.D. in chemistry at Brown University in 1951, before conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago.

He then joined the chemistry department faculty at Syracuse, where he would spend more than 40 years. In his research, he focused on theoretical physical chemistry, especially the theory behind vibrational circular dichroism. Walnut was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1954.