The Chemistry Department at Imperial College, London : a history, 1845-2000 / Hannah Gay (Simon Fraser University, Canada & Imperial College London, UK), William P. Griffith (Imperial College London, UK).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gay, Hannah, author.

Griffith, W. P. (William Pettitt), 1936- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imperial College, London. Chemistry Department.

Imperial College, London.

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Department of Chemistry.

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

Imperial College of Science and Technology. Department of Chemistry.

Imperial College of Science and Technology.

Royal College of Chemistry (Great Britain).

Imperial College, London--History.

Chemistry--Study and teaching (Higher)--Great Britain.

Chemistry.

Chemistry--Study and teaching (Higher).

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xii, 569 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : World Scientific Publishing Europe, Ltd., [2017]

Summary:

This is the first comprehensive history of the chemistry department at Imperial College London. Based on archival records, oral testimony, published papers, published and unpublished memoirs, the book tells the story of this world-famous department from its foundation as the Royal College of Chemistry in 1845 to the large department it had become by the year 2000. The book covers research, teaching, departmental governance, students and social life. It also highlights the extraordinary contributions made to the war effort in both the first and second world wars. From its first professors, A. Wilhelm Hofmann and Edward Frankland, the department has been home to many eminent chemists, including, in the later twentieth century, the Nobel laureates Derek Barton and Geoffrey Wilkinson. New information on these and many others is presented in a lively narrative that places both people and events in the larger historical contexts of chemistry, politics, culture and the economy. The book will interest not only those connected with Imperial College, but anyone interested in chemistry and its history, or in higher education in the sciences. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Historical Background 1

1.2 Some Organisational Points 4

Chapter 2 The Founding of the Royal College of Chemistry 9

2.1 Justus Liebig's Following in Britain Before 1845 9

2.2 The Founding of the Royal College of Chemistry 11

2.3 The Working Environment at the Oxford Street College 15

Chapter 3 The Hofmann and Frankland Years, 1845-1865 27

3.1 Introduction 27

3.2 Students, Assistants, and Instruction 28

3.3 Some Noteworthy Students and Staff 37

3.4 Hofmann's Research at the RCC 48

3.5 Frankland: his Earlier Career and his Work at the RCC 51

3.6 Applied and Extramural Work 57

Chapter 4 T. E. Thorpe, W. A. Tilden, and H. E. Armstrong's Department at the Central Technical College: 1885-1914 79

4.1 Thomas Edward Thorpe and some Staff and Students of the Period 1885-1894 79

4.2 William Augustus Tilden and the Founding of Imperial College, 1894-1909 83

4.3 Henry Armstrong's Department at the C&GCTC 92

4.4 Thorpe's Return as Head of Department; Departmental Reorganisation, 1909-1914 102

Chapter 5 The Department During the First World War 131

5.1 Herbert Brereton Baker 131

5.2 The Department during the First World War 132

Chapter 6 The Department Between the Wars, 1918-1939 155

6.1 A Fresh Start after the War 155

6.2 Herbert Brereton Baker and Inorganic Chemistry 160

6.3 James Charles Philip and Physical Chemistry 171

6.4 Jocelyn Field Thorpe and Organic Chemistry 175

Chapter 7 The Department during the Second World War 207

7.1 Introduction: Staff Members in 1939 207

7.2 War Preparations and Daily Life During the War 211

7.3 Scientific Contributions to the War Effort 215

7.4 Some Notable Wartime Students 223

Chapter 8 New Research and Departmental Reorganisation after the Second World War, 1945-1965 241

8.1 Departmental Governance 241

8.2 Vincent Briscoe as Mentor to Derek Barton and Geoffrey Wilkinson 243

8.3 Research: (a) Organic Chemistry; (b) Inorganic Chemistry; (c) Physical Chemistry 250

8.4 Departmental Reorganisation and Undergraduate Teaching 270

Chapter 9 Modernisation in a Changing Political, Economic, and Technological Climate: 1965-1985 303

9.1 Some Political and Economic Problems of the 1970s 303

9.2 Departmental Administration, Reorganisation, and Planning for the Future 305

9.3 Two Nobel Prizes 312

9.4 Research: (a) Inorganic Chemistry; (b) tOrganic Chemistry; (c) Physical Chemistry 314

9.5 Undergraduate Teaching and MSc Courses 329

Chapter 10 A Period of Change, 1985-2000 357

10.1 Introduction 357

10.2 Heads of Department and Section Heads, 1985-1993 358

10.3 Some Staff Changes, 1985-2000 359

10.4 Research into the 1990s: (a) Organic chemistry; (b) Inorganic Chemistry; (c) Physical Chemistry 360

10.5 Newcomers in the Later 1990s 368

10.6 BSc and MSci Courses; New Forms of Information Access; Social Life Among Students 369

10.7 Departmental Reorganisation, 1992-2000 373

10.8 Coda 377

Chapter 11 Epilogue 399

11.1 Chemistry's Changing Situation 399

11.2 Some Missed Opportunities 402

11.3 The Importance of Origins 404

11.4 Two World Wars 408

11.5 Sociality and the Social Makeup of the Department 408

11.6 Looking to the Future 412.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781783269730

1783269731

OCLC:

941139794