150th Celebration

Chester Thomas O'Konski

March 20, 2020

Chester Thomas O'Konski

by Liese Greens-Felder | Public Affairs

Chester "Chet" Thomas O'Konski, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry who was one of the first chemists to study nucleic acids and proteins using physical chemistry methods, died at his home in El...

Shop supervisor Eric Granlund retires

June 25, 2018
by Marge d'Wylde


Shop supervisor Eric Granlund retiresThe College is saying farewell to Eric Granlund, Shop Supervisor. Eric has been at the College since July 1985, concluding 33 years of service with his retirement this month.

Honor Among Fiends

September 18, 2020
College of Chemistry News

Chemistry Fiends logo

By Kathryn M. Neal, Associate University Archivist, Bancroft Library

When women students in the University of California’s College of Chemistry formed a social club in 1900, they called themselves the Chemistry Fiends. At that time, male undergraduate students outnumbered females nearly six to one. In 1902, members of the Chemistry Fiends elected officers and formally adopted a...

James Andrew Harris and element discovery at Berkeley Lab

February 1, 2021
by Darryl Boyd | C&EN

Element 104 discovery team

The Berkeley lab team that discovered elements 104 and 105, April 1969. From left: Matti Nurmia, James Harris, Kari Eskola, Pirkko Eskola, and Albert Ghiorso. (Photo: Berkeley Lab)

The discovery of an element is a rare occurrence. Defying racial and academic expectations, James A. Harris played a prominent role in the discovery of two elements.

...

Richard Edward Powell

March 11, 2020
By George Jura, R. E. Connick, A. E. Hutson, and G. A. Somorjai
Powell was born in Chicago in 1917. He earned his B.S. at Berkeley in 1939, and his Ph.D. at Princeton in 1942.

George Claude Pimentel

March 3, 2020
Robert E. Connick, Frederick C. Crews, C. Bradley Moore, Kenneth S. Pitzer, and Loy L. Sammet

George Claude Pimentel pointing to a blackboard while lecturing

With the death of George Pimentel (1922-1989), the Berkeley campus has lost an eminent scientist, a great teacher, a...

Gilbert Newton Lewis

March 25, 2020
by Raymond G. Gettell, Joel H. Hildebrand, Wendell M. Latimer, and G. E. Gibson
Scientist in a laboratory

Gilbert N. Lewis in his lab at UC Berkeley, 1937.

“Gilbert Newton Lewis was born near Boston, October 23, 1875. At the age of nine he was taken by his parents to live in Lincoln, Nebraska, where...

William Francis Giauque

January 1, 2020
College of Chemistry News

William Francis Giauque

By D. N. Lyon, K. S. Pitzer, and D. A. Shirley

The death of William Francis Giauque, 1949 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, on March 28, 1982, ended the career of one of Berkeley's most illustrious scientists. His 66-year association with U.C. Berkeley--unbroken by leave, sabbatical leave, or absences other than short illnesses and summer...

Melvin Calvin

March 28, 2020

By Les Prix Nobel, edited by Nobel Lectures

man in laboratory

Photo: Melvin Calvin in his Lab.

Melvin Calvin was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, April 8, 1911, of Russian emigrant parents. He received the B...

The first women chemists at Cal

February 5, 2018
by Marge d'Wylde | College of Chemistry
The College salutes the pioneer women chemistry faculty at Cal. Both as scientists, and as early faculty members at the University, they helped to pave the way for the next generations of women faculty and students.