E. H. Swift, 89; Prof. Emeritus of Chemistry

Ernest Haywood Swift, who joined the faculty of Throop Polytechnic Institute in 1919, the same year it changed its name to the California Institute of Technology, has died.

The award-winning professor emeritus of analytical chemistry died Sunday at an area nursing home. He was 89 and had been associated with Caltech longer than anyone.

Swift went to the Pasadena campus as a graduate student and teaching fellow the year after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia. He retired in 1967 and was named professor emeritus.

Regarded as a leading analytical chemist whose research and teaching involved the application of physio-chemical principles to the solution of problems in analytical chemistry, Swift won two prestigious awards from the American Chemical Society: the Tolman Medal in 1963 and the Fisher Award in Analytical Chemistry in 1955.

In World War II he was an investigator for the Office of Scientific Research and Development, researching chemical warfare projects.

Swift wrote more than 80 scientific publications, including four standard books in his field.

In 1958 he took over the division of chemistry and chemical engineering from Nobel laureate Linus Pauling and served in that position until 1963. He also was chairman of the Faculty Board.

Swift is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth, and two grandchildren, who ask that donations in his memory be given to Caltech’s division of chemistry and chemical engineering.