Dalhousie University. Faculty of Science. Department of Chemistry

Corporate body (Dalhousie University)

Dalhousie University. Faculty of Science. Department of Chemistry

• Dalhousie University. Faculty of Arts and Science. Department of Chemistry (1906-1988)
• Dalhousie College and University. Faculty of Pure and Applied Science. Department of Chemistry (1891-1906)
• Dalhousie College and University. Faculty of Science. Department of Chemistry (1880-1891)
• Dalhousie College and University. Faculty of Arts. Department of Chemistry (1863-1880)

1863-

The teaching of chemistry at Dalhousie College was introduced in 1842 by Professor James MacIntosh, although the chemistry department dates from 1863 with the appointment of the first chair, Professor George Lawson, who taught chemistry and botany at Dalhousie for 32 years. Ebenezer MacKay, who graduated in 1886 with first-class honours in experimental physics and chemistry, returned to Dalhousie in 1896 with a PhD from Johns Hopkins University to become the second professor of chemistry following Lawson's death.

The first postgraduate chemistry degree was conferred on James Forrest in 1871, and 11 more Dalhousie BA graduates received MA degrees between 1871 and 1934. In 1904, the first Master of Science degree was awarded to W.H. Ross, but research in chemistry did not flourish at Dalhousie until the arrival of Carl C. Coffin in 1930. When the Department of Chemistry received approval for a PhD program in 1960, the number of accepted MSc theses numbered only 62 after more than a half century. Dalhousie's first PhD in chemistry was granted to St. John H. Blakeley in 1964. Since then, some 500 alumni have received MSc and PhD degrees from the Chemistry Department, a number that increases by about 15 each year. Today the department's graduate program is the largest east of Montreal and the only PhD chemistry graduate program in Nova Scotia.

The Department of Chemistry is located in the Chemistry Building, which was the first building constructed on Dalhousie's Studley campus in 1915.

The Department of Chemistry offers programs of study leading to a range of BSc degrees, a BA, an MSc and a PhD. Teaching and research are closely intertwined, and research is carried out in all areas of chemistry: analytical, bio-organic, computational, environmental, inorganic, materials, organic, physical and theoretical. Research facilities include the computer-aided learning laboratory, laser photolysis laboratories, the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Research Resource, the Trace Analysis Research Centre, the Dalhousie X-ray Diffraction Facility and the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory.

The basic statute relating to Dalhousie University is Chapter 24 of the Acts of 1863. This statute replaced earlier statutes, and the 1863 statute itself has been amended and supplemented several times over the years. The provisions of these various statutes provide for the establishment and regulation of the university, the membership of the Board of Governors and its rights and powers, the authority of senate for the internal regulation of the university (subject to the approval of the board), and various other matters.

The Department of Chemistry is within the Faculty of Science. It is administered by a limited term chair chosen from among its faculty, which includes two named professorships, the Alexander McLeod Professor of Chemistry and the Harry Shirreff Professor of Chemical Research. In 2021 the department includes 25 professors, thirteen adjunct professors, nine instructors, seven professors emeriti, as well as technicians, technologists and administrative staff.

Dalhousie University. Faculty of Science (1988-)