150th Chemistry

Edward Booth

June 1, 2021

Born July 1857; died August 24, 1917, in California. Married Robina McArthur Brodie (Canadian) born March 1862. Daughter Jean born Sept 1886. Marriage Jan 1885, North Georgetown, Quebec, Canada.

Graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhB. in 1877.

From 1877 until 1880 he was an instructor at the College. In 1880 he became a Chemist and Assistant State Mineralogist in the California State Mining Bureau. Later he was the Assayer and Assistant Superintendent of a reduction works at Auburn, Placer county. He engaged in private practice as a chemist and as an engineer.

He left...

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...

Samuel Benedict Christy, first dean of mining and metallurgy

September 15, 2021

Hearst Mining Building, UC Berkeley

Interior, Hearst Mining Building. (Photo: Joe Parks via Wikimedia Commons)

...

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...

Joel Henry Hildebrand

March 19, 2020

By Kenneth S. Pitzer, D. H. McLaughlin, G. C. Pimentel, and J. M. Prausnitz

Scientist in lab

Photo: Joel Henry Hildebrand

Joel Henry Hildebrand (b. November 16, 1881, d. April 30, 1983) was born in Camden, New Jersey. His ancestors came to America before the revolution from the upper Rhine valley. When asked about his longevity, Joel replied, “I...

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer

March 29, 2020

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer

By Robert E. Connick, William H. Miller, and C. Bradley Moore

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer, former dean of the College of Chemistry and one of the most influential...

Earl Leonard Muetterties

March 20, 2020

Earl Muetterties

By K. N. Raymond, R. A. Andersen, R. G. Bergman, and A. M. Stacy

Earl Muetterties died of cancer on January 12, 1984, at the age of 56. Although he had been at Berkeley for only six years, his contributions to the Berkeley Chemistry Department were important and lasting. His lifetime contributions to the science of chemistry, first as a research worker and later as a teacher, have an...

Donald Sterling Noyce

March 26, 2020

Donald Sterling Noyce

By Yvette Subramanian

Donald S. Noyce, a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and former associate dean of undergraduate affairs in the College of Chemistry, died at his home on Nov. 3 at the age of 81. He was a highly regarded teacher and an organic chemist who loved to discern the mechanisms of chemical...

In Memoriam: Alumna Vera Kistiakowsky

October 27, 2022
UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry Press Release

Vera Kistiakowsky (9 September 1928 – 11 December 2021) was an American research physicist, teacher, and arms control activist. She was professor emerita at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the physics department and Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and was an activist for women's participation in the sciences. Kistiakowsky was an expert in experimental particle physics and observational astrophysics. She was the first woman appointed MIT professor of physics....

William L. Jolly

February 11, 2014

William Jolly with Retorts to Lasers

William Lee Jolly (1927-2014), emeritus professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, (Ph.D. '52, Chem with Latimer) whose work helped facilitate the renaissance of inorganic chemistry in the United States during the middle of the 20th century, died of heart failure on January 10, 2014, at Kaiser Medical Center in Richmond, CA. He was 86....