Sayre studied physics at Yale, and after wartime work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pursued an interest in x-ray analysis of large molecules, first at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn (R. Pepinsky q.v.), and then at Oxford where he worked under Hodgkin's supervision for the D.Phil. degree. Returning to the USA he worked for a time at the Johnson Foundation for Medical Physics, University of Pennsylvania before making his career in the research department of IBM, New York. He spent the academic year, 1972-3, at Oxford with a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College.

Correspondence relates to research and career.