Right here stands the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. It is part of the City College of New York. This department has a rich history. It connects to the early days of the college itself.
Back then it was the New York Free Academy. This was before the City College of New York existed. That was from 1847 to 1866. Chemistry at City College began with the college’s founding.
Our first chair of chemistry arrived in 1848. He was Professor Oliver Walcott Gibbs. Gibbs was a famous chemist. He later moved to Harvard. Next, Robert Ogden Doremus took over. He chaired from 1863 to 1902. Doremus was both a chemist and a doctor. He helped start two medical places in New York. These were University Hospital of Brooklyn and New York Medical College.
Doremus knew a lot about poison and cleaning hospitals. He even used science to solve a murder. This was 19th-century forensic science.
NYMC or New York Medical College began by focusing on patient needs. Robert Ogden Doremus helped found it.
Then came Charles Baskerville. He led the chemistry area from 1904 to 1922. Baskerville was inspired by Marie Curie. He also looked to Jons Berzelius. Baskerville thought he found two new elements. He called them Carolinium and Berzelium. Later, this proved wrong. But people saw it as an honest try. He was trying to find new radioactive elements. This was when science tools were not as good as today. This effort earned Baskerville a spot in City College history.
Baskerville changed the department a lot. He added new labs and helped the city. He worked with the state and federal governments too. He gave advice on wood alcohol rules and ventilation. He was one of the first to study illnesses from factories.
Baskerville was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He wrote six books and over 200 papers. These appeared in science magazines. The Baskerville Society is named after him. It is the undergraduate chemistry club.
Today, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry keeps providing great education. It teaches students from immigrant and low-income families. Many graduates have achieved great things. Four became Nobel Prize winners. About twenty became members of national science groups.
The department changed its name in 2015. Now, it offers B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Students can study and do research in all chemistry areas. This includes undergraduate and graduate levels. The American Chemical Society approves the department. It offers concentrations in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Chemistry majors can focus on standard chemistry or environmental chemistry. The department also works with the School of Education. They offer a path for teaching in secondary schools.
Research is very important here. Faculty research covers many areas. This includes nanotechnology, surface chemistry and materials chemistry. It also includes electrochemistry, laser spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. There is also organometallics, reaction mechanisms and synthetic organic chemistry. Other research areas include environmental chemistry, molecular biology and structural biology. Biological NMR and biophysical chemistry are studied too. Both experiments and theories are used.
The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department looks forward with excitement. New faculty members bring fresh ideas to research and teaching. Students participate in activities through the Baskerville Society and the Science Alliance.
Besides the Marshak Science Building, the new Center for Discovery and Innovation opened in 2015. It is near the CUNY Advanced Research Science Center and the New York Structural Biology Center. These projects are making City College a well-known research and education center.