His research was primarily in analytical chemistry, a subject he also taught for many years at Michigan.
He attended Princeton University as an undergraduate and remained there for graduate work, receiving his Ph.D. in 1937.
He received the university's Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award in 1977 and became the Hobart Willard Professor of Chemistry in 1981.
[2] Elving was particularly well known for his work as the co-editor of two large series of monographs on topics in analytical chemistry.
[7] Elving's research focused on analytical chemistry, particularly electrochemistry as applied to biologically important molecules such as purines and pyrimidines.