While still a graduate student he discovered that single bonds in hydrocarbons do not rotate, an important discovery upsetting the conventional wisdom and affecting the thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons.
While still a graduate student he discovered that hydrocarbon molecules do not rotate unhindered around their C-C bonds. There is in fact a barrier to internal rotation, an important discovery upsetting the conventional wisdom and affecting the thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons.