150th Celebration

William Francis Giauque

January 1, 2020
College of Chemistry News

Giauque, William Francis

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...

In memoriam: Willard B. Rising

January 14, 2023
by John Maxwell Stillman, Bernard Moses, and Edmond O'Neill

Undated portrait Willard B. Rising. Collection Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.Willard B. Rising

Summary of Prof. Rising's career from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography

Willard Bradley Rising, chemist, b. 26 sept 1839, Meckleenburg, New York. D. 9 Feb 1910, Berkeley, CA. Lived at 2203 Bancroft, Berkeley, CA (now the edge of the University on Bancroft.) Wife Frances;...

Ignacio Tinoco Jr.

March 25, 2020

Ignacio Jr. Tinoco

By Kerry Grens

Ignacio (Nacho) Tinoco, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, who pioneered methods to understand the structures of RNA, died last month (...

In Memoriam: alumnus Herbert Alexander Young

November 3, 2022
Celeste T. Wright, Arthur Child, Bruce Glassburner, C. Bickford O'Brien, and Harold G. Reiber

Painting of Herbert Young, undated

Herbert Alexander Young (1906-1965) Professor of Chemistry and Dean, College of Letters and Science UC Davis. (1945, Tennessee Eastman Corporation newsletter photo. This version of the image is a mural at UC Davis.)

Herbert Young son of William Alexander and Aldie Jennings Young, was born October 10, 1906, in San Diego,...

In Memoriam Charles Bonner Harris Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus

March 10, 2020
Richard J. Saykally

Charles Harris

A world leader in the field of physical chemistry, Charles Bonner Harris, former Chair of chemistry and Dean of the College of Chemistry at the UC Berkeley, and former Director of Chemical Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, passed away on March 10, 2020. His distinguished career is marked by his many contributions to the field of condensed phase chemical...

Alan Stuart Foss

March 11, 2020

Alan S. Foss

Professor of Chemical Engineering

By C. Judson King, Simon L. Goren, and P. Henrik Wallman

With the death of Alan S. Foss on February 22, 2006, the University of California, Berkeley Department of Chemical Engineering lost...

Celebrating 25 years of groundbreaking research at Tan Kah Kee Hall

October 11, 2022
A message from Chancellor Christ

Tan Hall in 2022

It is my pleasure to share this report celebrating the 25th anniversary of Tan Kah Kee Hall at UC Berkeley and honoring the community of alumni and friends whose partnership helped make this extraordinary structure a reality. Dedicated in 1997, Tan Kah Kee Hall is the most recently constructed facility within the seven-building complex that houses Berkeley’s...

In Memoriam: Robert Curl (1933-2022)

July 6, 2022
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Robert Curl, 2009

Robert Curl in 2009 at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia. Photo Science History Institute/Douglas Lockard

The College of Chemistry is sad to announce that internationally acclaimed scientist and nanotechnology pioneer Robert Curl who was a Berkeley alum (Ph.D. 1958, Chemistry with Kenneth Pitzer); Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1996,...

C. Judson King of Berkeley

February 27, 2022
John Prausnitz | College of Chemistry

This article was first published in Chemical Engineering Education, Vol. 39 No. 3, Summer 2005 (p178-182); © 2005 American Society for Engineering Education. It is reprinted here by permission of the publisher.

C. Judson King

In the middle of the UC Berkeley campus, next to the Main...

Theoretical chemist Robert Harris has passed away

July 12, 2022
Douglas Clark | College of Chemistry

Robert Harris at UC Berkeley circa 1980s

(image: Robert Harris in his office circa 1980s. Photo: Dennis Galloway)

Douglas Clark announced today that Robert (Bob) A. Harris, cherished colleague and professor emeritus of chemistry, passed away on Sunday, July 10, 2022 at the age of 85.

Bob was born August 9, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. He...