Henry Eyring

American chemist

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July 17, 2026

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Henry Eyring was an American theoretical chemist known for his significant contributions to chemical kinetics. He, along with Michael Polanyi and M.G. Evans, independently developed transition-state theory in 1935. This theory, built upon quantum mechanics, models the intermediate state of a chemical reaction, known as the activated complex, to understand reaction rates. Eyring's work, alongside the Arrhenius equation, provided crucial insights into how temperature affects reaction speeds. His research helped detail the exchange of chemical bonds and the disposal of excess energy during chemical reactions.123

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chemical kinetics
Transition-state theory
…in 1931 by American chemist Henry Eyring and British chemist Michael Polanyi, who constructed, on the basis of quantum mechanics, a potential-energy surface for the simple reaction H^α + H^β―H^γ → H^α―H^β―H^γ → H^α―H^β + H^γ. For convenience the labels α, β, and γ are added as superscripts. When this…
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…in 1931 by American chemist Henry Eyring and British chemist Michael Polanyi, who constructed, on the basis of quantum mechanics, a potential-energy surface for the simple reaction H^α + H^β―H^γ → H^α―H^β―H^γ → H^α―H^β + H^γ. For convenience the labels α, β, and γ are added as superscripts. When this…
Read More