Department History
The study and teaching of chemistry at the University of Texas date to the very founding of the University, and chemistry's important place in the educational mission is made clear in early records. The first Chairman of the Faculty, John W. Mallet, was a well-known chemist, lured to Austin from a prestigious position at the University of Virginia. The first academic building on the Forty Acres constructed specifically for a single discipline, in 1891, was the Chemical Laboratory. The first Dean of the newly formed Graduate School, Henry W. Harper, was a popular UT chemistry professor.
The formative years of the Department were marked by a small but highly stable chemical faculty: until 1937 only eight individuals held professorships in the department. During the 22-year period between 1896 and 1918, a triumvirate of three professors -- Harper, Bailey, and Schoch, known as the "Three Pals" -- was the Chemistry Department.
Early UT chemistry faculty were some of the best known and most beloved figures on the young campus, and their involvement in University affairs stretched far beyond their laboratories and classrooms. They were also a devoted group of men. Of the eight Chemistry faculty members appointed between 1883 and 1927, only the first two left UT for reasons other than retirement or death. They were dedicated to helping the new university through its difficult early days, and share the credit for meeting the Legislature's mandate, to build "a University of the first class."
The faculty began to expand more rapidly after 1937. Eight additional professors joined the department between 1937 and 1940, when the Department of Chemical Engineering was split off and transferred to the College of Engineering. The explosion of scientific research in the United States after World War II resulted in even more accelerated growth in all science and engineering departments across the country. Today the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has over 50 professors on active, retired, or emeritus status.
Faculty Genealogy
The Faculty Genealogy shows the academic lineage, based primarily on Ph.D. adviser, of faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin.
This content is an excerpt from the Department History pages on the Chemistry Library web site and is duplicated here with permission. For more detail on the subject, please visit their site.
