Plyler discusses his early influences and education, his undergraduate years and Master's work at Furman University, where he was later an assistant professor; his Ph.D. studies at Johns Hopkins University under Robert W. Wood and A. Herman Pfund; completion of his studies at Cornell University on fellowship under Carleton C. Murdock, Ernest G. Merritt, and Edward L. Nichols; his work in infrared absorption; his teaching position at the University of North Carolina; summer courses at the University of Michigan with Edward Condon, Arnold Sommerfeld, Wolfgang Pauli, David Dennison, and George Uhlenbeck; the growth of the physics department at North Carolina with the arrival of Arthur E. Ruark, James B. Fisk, and John Wheeler; sabbatical work on infrared measurements at the University of Michigan and Ohio State University; and his move to the National Bureau of Standards in 1945. Plyler also discusses his approach to research and details of his contributions in infrared spectroscopy, spectroscopy, and refraction.