MIT Chemistry Department
The Chemistry Department at MIT is one of the top university faculties in the world. Research interests cover the entire field of chemistry, ranging from organic chemistry and biological chemistry to physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, environmental chemistry, materials science and nanoscience.
History
MIT's Chemistry department has been around since the Institute opened its doors in 1865. It started with two professors, Charles W. Eliot and Francis H. Storer, and a class of 15 students.
In 1866, the department moved to its new quarters in the basement of the Rogers Building in Boston. Cyrus Warren joined the faculty, and became MIT's first professor of organic chemistry.
In 1907, MIT awarded its first Ph.D. to three students in the field of physical chemistry.
Nobel laureates
The department has several Nobel Laureates among its faculty and alumni, including:
- Robert B. Woodward (Chemistry, 1965)
- Robert S. Mulliken (Chemistry, 1966)
- H. Gobind Khorana (Medicine & Physiology, 1968)
- Geoffrey Wilkinson (Chemistry, 1973)
- Charles J. Pedersen (Chemistry 1987)
- Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech (Chemistry, 1989)
- Elias J. Corey (Chemistry, 1990)
- Mario Molina (Chemistry, 1995)
- K. Barry Sharpless (Chemistry, 2001)
- Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry, 2004)
- Richard R. Schrock (Chemistry, 2005).
Faculty
Current members
- Robert A. Alberty
- Moungi G. Bawendi
- Klaus Biemann
- Stephen L. Buchwald
- Jianshu Cao
- Sylvia Ceyer
- Arup K. Chakraborty
- Christopher C. Cummins, Ph.D. 1993
- Rick L. Danheiser
- Alan Davison
- John M. Deutch, S.B. 1961, Ph.D. 1966
- Mircea Dincă
- Catherine L. Drennan
- John M. Essigmann, S.M. 1972, Ph.D. 1976
- Robert W. Field
- Carl W. Garland
- Frederick D. Greene
- Robert G. Griffin
- Timothy F. Jamison
- Jeremiah Johnson
- Alexander M. Klibanov
- Stephen J. Lippard, Ph.D. 1965
- Mohammad Movassaghi
- Elizabeth Nolan, Ph.D. 2006
- Keith A. Nelson
- Irwin Oppenheim
- Brad L. Pentelute
- Richard R. Schrock
- Alex K. Shalek
- Matthew Shoulders
- Dietmar Seyferth
- Jeffrey I. Steinfeld, S.B. 1962
- JoAnne Stubbe
- Yogesh Surendranath, Ph.D. 2011
- Timothy M. Swager
- Steven R. Tannenbaum, S.B. 1958, Ph.D. 1962
- Alice Y. Ting
- Troy Van Voorhis
- John S. Waugh
- Adam Willard
- Gerald N. Wogan
Former members
- Isadore Amdur
- Avery Ashdown
- James A. Beattie
- Arthur A. Blanchard
- James Mason Crafts
- Charles W. Eliot
- Leicester F. Hamilton
- Daniel S. Kemp
- Frederick G. Keyes
- H. Gobind Khorana
- Gilbert Newton Lewis
- Mario Molina
- Forris Jewitt Moore
- Avery A. Morton
- Lewis M. Morton
- Samuel Parsons Mulliken
- Daniel G. Nocera
- James Flack Norris
- Arthur Amos Noyes, S.B. 1886
- Joseph Sadighi
- Walter C. Schumb
- George Scatchard
- K. Barry Sharpless
- John C. Sheehan
- Robert J. Silbey
- Walter Stockmayer
- Franis H. Storer
- Henry P. Talbot
- Andrei Tokmakoff
- William Walker
- Christopher T. Walsh
- Cyrus Warren
- Mark S. Wrighton
- Douglas Youvan
- Hans-Conrad zur Loye
Notable alumni
- Sidney Altman, S.B. 1960
- Elias J. Corey, S.B. 1948, Ph.D. 1951
- Roscoe G. Dickinson
- Robert S. Mulliken, S.B. 1917
- Charles J. Pedersen, S.M. 1927
- Ellen Swallow Richards, S.B. 1873
- Robert B. Woodward, S.B. 1936, Ph.D. 1937