A Gift of Japanese Porcelain

Robert G. Wheeler ’50 donates collection to Lehigh University Art Galleries to serve as teaching tool.

Lehigh alum and Yale scholar Robert G. Wheeler ’50 first became interested in porcelains in 1974, when, as professor and chair of the engineering and applied physics department at Yale, he joined a delegation of 15 scholars from across disciplines on an extensive study trip to China.

At the time, Wheeler was working on silicon dioxide formation in oxygen furnaces to make early field effect transistors. With silicon dioxide a major component of porcelain, he became interested in the process by which the Chinese made porcelain.

Follow the link in the additional information box for the full story by Mary Ellen Alu.