MIT Chemistry Department

The Department of Chemistry at MIT is one of the top university faculties in the world. Research conducted covers the entire field of chemistry, ranging from organic chemistry and biological chemistry to physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, environmental chemistry, materials science and nanoscience.

History
The Department of Chemistry at MIT has been established since the Institute opened its doors in 1865. It started with two professors, Charles W. Eliot and Francis H. Storer, and a class of 15 students.

In 1866, the department moved to its then new quarters in the basement of the Rogers Building in Boston.

In 1907, MIT awarded its first Ph.D. to three students in the field of physical chemistry.

Nobel laureates
The department has several Nobel Laureates among its faculty and alumni, including the following:
 * Robert B. Woodward (Chemistry, 1965)
 * Robert S. Mulliken (Chemistry, 1966)
 * H. Gobind Khorana (Medicine & Physiology, 1968)
 * Geoffrey Wilkinson (Chemistry, 1973)
 * Charles J. Pedersen (Chemistry 1987)
 * Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech (Chemistry, 1989)
 * Elias J. Corey (Chemistry, 1990)
 * Mario Molina (Chemistry, 1995)
 * K. Barry Sharpless (Chemistry, 2001)
 * Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry, 2004)
 * Richard R. Schrock (Chemistry, 2005).
 * Moungi Bawendi (Chemistry, 2023).

Current members

 * Moungi Bawendi
 * Stephen L. Buchwald
 * Jianshu Cao
 * Sylvia Ceyer
 * Arup K. Chakraborty
 * Christopher C. Cummins, Ph.D. 1993
 * Rick L. Danheiser
 * John M. Deutch, S.B. 1961, Ph.D. 1966
 * Mircea Dincă
 * Catherine L. Drennan
 * John M. Essigmann, S.M. 1972, Ph.D. 1976
 * Robert W. Field
 * Frederick D. Greene
 * Robert G. Griffin
 * Mei Hong
 * Barbara Imperiali
 * Timothy F. Jamison
 * Jeremiah Johnson
 * Daniel S. Kemp
 * Laura L. Kiessling
 * Alexander M. Klibanov
 * Stephen J. Lippard, Ph.D. 1965
 * Mohammad Movassaghi
 * Keith A. Nelson
 * Elizabeth Nolan, Ph.D. 2006
 * Brad L. Pentelute
 * Alexander Radosevich
 * Ronald T. Raines
 * Gabriela Schlau-Cohen
 * Richard R. Schrock
 * Dietmar Seyferth
 * Alex K. Shalek
 * Matthew D. Shoulders
 * Susan Solomon
 * Jeffrey I. Steinfeld, S.B. 1962
 * JoAnne Stubbe
 * Daniel Suess
 * Yogesh Surendranath, Ph.D. 2011
 * Timothy M. Swager
 * Steven R. Tannenbaum, S.B. 1958, Ph.D. 1962
 * Troy Van Voorhis
 * Xiao Wang
 * Alison Wendlandt
 * Adam Willard
 * Bin Zhang

Former members

 * Robert A. Alberty
 * Isadore Amdur
 * Avery Ashdown
 * James A. Beattie
 * Klaus Biemann
 * Arthur A. Blanchard
 * George H. Büchi
 * James Mason Crafts
 * Alan Davison
 * Charles W. Eliot
 * Gregory Fu
 * Carl W. Garland
 * Leicester F. Hamilton
 * Frederick G. Keyes
 * H. Gobind Khorana
 * Gilbert Newton Lewis
 * Mario Molina
 * Forris Jewitt Moore
 * Avery A. Morton
 * Lewis M. Morton
 * Samuel Parsons Mulliken
 * Daniel G. Nocera
 * James Flack Norris
 * Arthur Amos Noyes, S.B. 1886
 * Irwin Oppenheim
 * Joseph Sadighi
 * Walter C. Schumb
 * George Scatchard
 * Peter Seeberger
 * K. Barry Sharpless
 * John C. Sheehan
 * Robert J. Silbey
 * Walter Stockmayer
 * Francis H. Storer
 * Henry P. Talbot
 * Andrei Tokmakoff
 * William Walker
 * Christopher T. Walsh
 * Cyrus Warren
 * John S. Waugh
 * Mark S. Wrighton
 * Douglas Youvan
 * Hans-Conrad zur Loye

Notable alumni

 * Sidney Altman, S.B. 1960
 * Elias J. Corey, S.B. 1948, Ph.D. 1951
 * Roscoe G. Dickinson
 * Robert S. Mulliken, S.B. 1917
 * Charles J. Pedersen, S.M. 1927
 * Ellen Swallow Richards, S.B. 1873
 * Robert B. Woodward, S.B. 1936, Ph.D. 1937