Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

September 28, 2000

Chemistry at 125: Milestones in department's history

Following are some highlights of the Department of Chemistry's 125 years at Pitt.

* In 1875, the department is first recognized at the Western University of Pennsylvania, forerunner to Pitt, with the appointment of Francis Clifford Phillips as professor of chemistry, geology and mineralogy. Phillips would serve as head of the department until 1915.

* In 1893, at the recommendation of Phillips, the first woman is admitted to laboratory instruction.

* In 1913, the Department of Chemistry awards its first Ph.D. to Hugh Clark. Also that year, Mellon Institute is founded with strong ties to Pitt's chemistry department.

* In 1915, Raymond Foss Bacon, director of Mellon Institute, is named dean of Pitt's School of Chemistry, with two units under his charge: organic chemistry; and analytical, inorganic and physical chemistry.

* Ground is broken for Alumni Hall, home of the School of Chemistry, in 1920. Later that year, the school is reconverted to a department.

* The general chemistry laboratory is moved to converted army barracks behind Pitt Stadium in 1925. The following year, the organic chemistry lab is moved there.

* In 1926, Rachel Hoyle Kesler becomes the first woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry at Pitt.

* In 1931, Pitt chemistry professor Charles Glen King isolates and identifies Vitamin C in his laboratory in Thaw Hall.

* In 1936, fire destroys the hilltop chemistry labs, causing $80,000 worth of damage. The labs are re-opened in the Dental Annex Building on O'Hara Street (now a parking garage).

* Working his way through graduate school as a Pitt custodian, Edward Lee Harris earns a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1937. He is thought to be the first African American to earn the degree.

* Work to remodel Alumni Hall begins in 1937, and by 1941 the entire department is housed there. (In 1998 Alumni Hall was renamed Eberly Hall.)

* In 1955, the Francis Clifford Phillips Lecture Series is established.

* Construction of the Space Research Coordination Center is completed in 1963. The new center will house the chemistry department's crystallography unit, which becomes a separate department.

* In 1969, the department is awarded a five-year $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand. Also that year, the master's program in forensic chemistry is established.

* By 1971, the department is spread out over the Pittsburgh campus. Labs, classrooms and offices are in Alumni Hall, Old Engineering Hall, Crawford Hall, the Cathedral of Learning, a trailer complex behind Alumni Hall and Mellon Institute. That year ground is broken for a new chemistry building.

* The new home of the chemistry department is completed in 1974. Dedicated in November of that year, it is later renamed the Chevron Science Center.

* The Surface Science Center, part of the chemistry department, is dedicated in 1984.

* In 1998, the department awards its 1,000th Ph.D. in chemistry to Edward Wovchko. Also in 1998, the Combinatorial Chemistry Center is established.

* This year marked the establishment of the Center for Molecular and Materials Simulation.

Filed under: Feature,Volume 33 Issue 3

Leave a Reply