150th Chemistry

Willard Frank Libby

January 1, 2020
George B. Kauffman | www.britannica.com

Willard Libby

By George B. Kauffman, Professor of Chemistry, California State University Fresno

Willard Frank Libby (1908 - 1980) American chemist whose technique of carbon-14 (or radiocarbon) dating provided an extremely valuable tool for archaeologists, anthropologists, and earth scientists. For this development he was honored with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1960.

Libby, the son of farmer Ora Edward...

Glenn Theodore Seaborg

March 29, 2020

Glenn Theodore Seaborg

By Les Prix Nobel edited by Nobel Lectures

Glenn Theodore Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, on April 19, 1912. At the age of 10 he moved with his family to California, in 1929 he graduated at David Starr Jordan High School in Los Angeles as...

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;...

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

Backlit: 150 Years of High Jumps

July 5, 2022
by Amy Cranch |California Magazine, June 2022

Joel Hildebrand, a legendary chemistry professor from 1913 to 1952 and expert skier.

Joel Hildebrand, a legendary chemistry professor from 1913 to 1952 and expert skier. Photo 1935, courtesy of the Hildebrand family.

There’s something transcendent about skiing — not just in the...

Tan Kah Kee Hall

March 23, 2021
The Straits Times

Tan Kah Kee Hall

Tan Kah Kee Hall sits to the right of Latimer Hall at the corner of the College of Chemistry complex. (Photo by Marge d'Wylde)

The newest research facility for chemical engineering and chemistry at UC Berkeley was dedicated Saturday, April 12, 1997.

Tan Kah Kee Hall (Tan Hall), was designed primarily to support research and graduate education in fields...

George Ernest Gibson

March 12, 2020

George Ernest Gibson

By W. F. Giauque, J. H. Hildebrand, and G. T. Seaborg

George Ernest Gibson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, November 9, 1884, the son of John Gibson and Karolina...