Creativity comes in many different forms. My mind goes immediately to a combination of images, conversations, and mathematical derivations of my late colleague in the chemistry department, Paul McKinney ’52.

I suspect few of you would have guessed I would name a scientist as my most creative colleague and I bet the vast majority of readers are surprised that I associated mathematical derivations with creativity.

McKinney was the ultimate student of the liberal arts—on a campus where that means a lot. As both student and faculty member, he immersed himself in all that Wabash had to offer. He was a chemist, an actor, a philosopher, and a musician.

I remember a departmental discussion early in my time as a chemistry professor about a question on the written comprehensive exams. It was complex and more than a little abstract. It was the kind of question that had more than one right answer. There was concern that students could get derailed by its open-ended nature.
I don’t recall how the comps question was worded in the end, but I remember Paul’s argument that we needed to give the students “the opportunity to demonstrate creativity.”

One of the ways we remember McKinney’s contributions to Wabash is a computer lab on the third floor of Hays Hall named in his memory. Consistent with his legacy, the McKinney Computational Chemistry Laboratory immerses students in both technology and art.

One wall of the McKinney Lab features a portrait of Galileo, one of his heroes, and an abstract painting that was a gift from Don McMasters ’53. The two were fraternity brothers and fellow chemistry students. McMasters went on to have a successful career as a chemist at Indiana University but is best known at Wabash for his work as an art collector and the many pieces he donated to our collection.

On the other wall in the McKinney Lab are framed copies of McKinney’s last scientific papers and a pair of articles from the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry titled “Schrodinger Equation Solutions for the Central Field Power Potential Energy.”

The placement of these journal articles—and the derivations contained within them—leave it open to interpretation whether to engage them as works of science or works of creative expression. I think that is exactly the way McKinney would have wanted it.