Raymond Leroy Murray Papers 1919-2011

Summary
Contents
Names/subjects
Using these materials
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Creator
Murray, Raymond L., 1920-2011
Size
202 linear feet (397 archival boxes, 2 halfboxes, 1 oversized box, 2 legalboxes)
Call number
MC 00416
Access to materials

Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Copies of digital files may be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request.

The Raymond Leroy Murray Papers, 1911-2011, contain various papers and files from Raymond Murray's research, teaching, consulting, and other activities. Included are conference papers, class lecture notes, talking points, reports, publication drafts, schedules, research and reference files, and article reprints. The collection contains materials on the following topics: low level radioactive waste management, buckling, radon, criticality, reactor analysis, kinetics, and migration. In various series are papers that Dr. Murray prepared in conjuction with North Carolina State University, various government agencies, and contract work he did with such companies as Bechtel.

Raymond Leroy Murray was born on February 14, 1920, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and died on June 22, 2011, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received a B.S. in education, 1940, and M.S. in physics and mathematics, 1941, from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D in physics from the University of Tennessee, 1950. That same year he joined the new nuclear engineering program at North Carolina State College (later University) as a physics professor. He was a key figure in establishing and operating the University's nuclear reactor, which was the first operated on a college campus. From 1963 to 1974 he headed NC State University's Department of Nuclear Engineering. He had many research interests and edited six editions of textbooks about nuclear energy. He worked as a consultant for companies interested in the history of nuclear energy, disasters of nuclear power plants, the development of the atomic bomb and how to safely deal with radioactive waste.

Biographical/historical note

Raymond Leroy Murray was born on February 14, 1920, in Lincoln, Nebraska and died on June 22, 2011, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.S. in education, 1940, and M.S. in physics and mathematics, 1941, from the University of Nebraska. Beginning in 1941, he studied physics for a year at the University of California, Berkeley, under J. Robert Oppenheimer (he later went with Oppenheimer to work on the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee). His Ph.D in physics, 1950, from the University of Tennessee, was the first awarded in that field at that institution.

Murray married three times: first in 1941 to Ilah Mae Rengler (died 1966), then to social worker Quin Davies Meyer (died 1977), and finally in 1979 to local historian and Raleigh city council member Elizabeth Davis Reid. Murray and his first wife had three children.

From the Manhattan Project (he eventually worked on criticality safety) to the Three Mile Island (he was a consultant on the recovery), Murray took part in milestones of nuclear engineering and atomic power. His career in physics and nuclear engineering began at the Oak Ridge atomic research center in Tennessee during World War II. In 1950 he joined the new nuclear engineering program at North Carolina State College (later University) as a physics professor. He was a key figure in establishing and operating NC State University's nuclear reactor, which was the first operated on a college campus. He helped develop the curriculum for NC State's nuclear engineering program. He taught a course on nuclear reactor design, and he authored the widely-used textbook Introduction to Nuclear Engineering (published in several editions, the first in 1954). In 1957 he was named Burlington Professor of Physics, and from 1963 to 1974 he headed the Department of Nuclear Engineering.

After retiring from teaching at NC State in 1980, Murray remained active in research and consulting, and he was an advocate of the beneficial aspects of nuclear energy. He spent several years in an unsuccessful attempt to get a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility built in the southeastern United States. Murray received many honors, including the O. Max Gardner Award from the University of North Carolina system, the Arthur Holly Compton Award, and the Eugene Wigner Reactor Physicist Award of the American Nuclear Society.

Scope/content

The Raymond Leroy Murray Papers, 1911-2011, contain various papers and files from Raymond Murray's research, teaching, consulting, and other activities. Included are conference papers, class lecture notes, talking points, reports, publication drafts, schedules, research and reference files, and article reprints. The collection contains materials on the following topics: low level radioactive waste management, buckling, radon, criticality, reactor analysis, kinetics, and migration. In the series are papers that Dr. Murray prepared in conjuction with North Carolina State University, various government agencies, and contract work he did with such companies as Bechtel.

Arrangement

The Raymond Leroy Murray Papers, 1919-2011, has been arranged into six series. Two of the series contain subseries. The series for this collection are as follows: 1. Research, 1.1 Reports and 1.2 General; 2. Publications, 2.1 Textbooks and 2.2 Articles; 3. Teaching Materials; 4. Professional Relations; 5. Programming and Software; 6. Consulting.

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Raymond Leroy Murray Papers, MC 00416, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Related material

Source of acquisition

Gift of Raymond L. Murray, 2011 (Accession 2011.01280); the estate of Raymond L. Murray, 2011 (Accession 2011.0169); and Norman Banks and Wesley O. Doggett, 2011 (Accession 2011.0204 and 2011.0205).

Processing information

Finding aid created by Judy Allen Dodson and Todd Kosmerick, 2012 January. Processed by and finding aid updated by Rachel Jacobson and Rose Buchanan, 2015 September.

Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.
Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.

Access to the collection

Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Copies of digital files may be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request.

For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.

Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111

Phone: (919) 515-2273

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Raymond Leroy Murray Papers, MC 00416, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.