The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

The Department of Chemistry has been part of the University of Illinois since the university's beginning in 1868. By 1893, a four-year B.S. degree program in Chemistry had been established, and the first Ph.D. in Chemistry was awarded in 1903. By the 1920s, the department was one of the largest in the United States in terms of facilities, faculty, and degrees granted. By the end of the twentieth century, more than 3,400 doctoral degrees had been awarded, making the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois the premier Ph.D.-producing chemistry program in the United States.

The School of Chemical Sciences counts 10 Nobel Prize winners among its faculty, graduates and postdoctoral fellows. Notable accomplishments by members of the department over the past 130 years include the following.

• Discovery of the amino acid threonine and several fundamental vitamins (William Rose, JBC bio, Department bio)
• Discovery of the artificial sweetener sodium cyclamate (Louis Audrieth and Michael Sveda)
• Discovery of catalytic hydrogenation by active platinum catalysts (Roger Adams)
• Development of electron transfer theory (Rudy Marcus)
• Performance of the first molecular beam experiments (Willis Flygare)
• Isolation of the first well-characterized cytochrome P450 (I. C. Gunsalus)
• Development of high-pressure and fluorescence spectroscopy to study protein structures (Gregorio Weber)
• Development of NMR spectroscopy as a tool for structural analysis (Herbert Gutowsky)
• First observation of NMR spin coupling (Herbert Gutowsky)
• Invention of calorimetry (Samuel Parr)
• Invention of pressure bombs (Samuel Parr)
• Discovery of peptide hormones (Vincent du Vigneaud)
• Invention of the aerosol can (G. Frederick Smith)
• Pioneering work in polymer synthesis (Carl "Speed" Marvel)
• Pioneering work in coordination chemistry (John Bailar, Jr.)
• Founding of Chemical Abstracts (William Noyes) and Organic Syntheses (Roger Adams)
• Invention of magnetic resonance imaging (Paul Lauterbur)