School of Chemistry

1451

• The University of Glasgow is founded.
• It celebrates its 550th anniversary in 2001.

Joseph Black, Cullen’s student, succeeds him as Lecturer in Chemistry. Already known for work on Magnesia Alba, Black pioneers thermal chemistry.

1747

• Chemistry teaching begins at Glasgow, one year after the Battle of Culloden.
• William Cullen is granted funds (£30, later supplemented by £22) to set up the first chemistry laboratory — marking the official foundation of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow.
• Cullen's lectures and practical demonstrations are well received, although he later notes that he spent far more of his own money on laboratory equipment:
  "...that he had expended a much greater sum himself in purchasing cucurbits, boltheads and a great many other instruments..." (Senate minutes, June 1749).

1756

• Joseph Black, Cullen’s student and successor, becomes Lecturer in Chemistry.

1762

• Already celebrated for his research on Magnesia Alba, Black pioneers the concept of latent heat in 1762.
• James Watt, then a young engineer, measures latent heat of steam in Black’s lab — linking Glasgow Chemistry directly to the Industrial Revolution.

1787

• Joseph Black's student, Charles Hope, delivers the first chemistry course in Britain to incorporate Lavoisier’s theories, having studied in his Paris laboratory.

1792

• The element Strontium is discovered by William Hope through research at Glasgow.

More information

• Discover more about Cullen and Black on our Notable alumni page.
• Explore a list of Early laboratory equipment.

1819

• Chemistry is elevated to a Regius Chair. Thomas Thomson becomes the first Regius Professor. A staunch supporter of Dalton’s atomic theory, Thomson introduces practical undergraduate chemistry and establishes the Shuttle Street laboratory (1831).

1831–1870

• The Shuttle Street Laboratories become the primary site for chemistry teaching and research. These included one of the earliest purpose-built teaching laboratories in the UK. The building remained in use for other purposes well into the 20th century.
• Thomas Thomson publishes History of Chemistry, elevating Chemistry as a profession.

1841

• The Chemical Society is founded. Thomas Graham, a Glasgow graduate, is appointed its first president.

Late 1800s

• Glasgow emerges as a leading centre for chemistry in the UK and the Empire. Notable alumni from this period include Sir William Ramsay (Nobel Prize, 1904) and Lord Todd (Nobel Prize, 1957).

More information

• Visit the History of our buildings page to find out more about the Shuttle Street Laboratories and other notable buildings.

1904–1914

• Frederick Soddy lectures in Physical Chemistry. He develops the concept of isotopes, defines atomic number, and shares the discovery of protactinium. He wins the 1921 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1936

• Construction begins on the new Institute of Chemistry building at Gilmorehill, the University's new west-end campus. At the time, it is the largest purpose-built chemistry building in the UK.

1942–1970

• J. Monteith Robertson holds the Gardiner Chair. A pioneer of organic X-ray crystallography, he lays the groundwork for techniques still used in protein structure determination today.

1953

• Henry How initiates work on natural product modification, seen as a precursor to modern drug discovery methods.

1955–1957

Sir Derek Barton serves as Regius Professor. Wins the 1969 Nobel Prize for contributions to conformational chemistry.

1957

The School installs the University’s first computer, the English Electric DEUCE, used to solve crystal structures.

1962–1989

• Theoretical Chemistry is formally introduced. The Ramsay Chair in Inorganic Chemistry is established in 1968, followed by the Joseph Black Chair in Protein Crystallography in 1989.

1995

• Glasgow researchers publish the structure of the light-harvesting protein complex in Nature — a milestone in structural biology.

2005

• The University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde establish WestCHEM — a joint research school integrating research expertise across the West of Scotland.

2006

• The School has 33 academic staff, including 12 Professors.

2010

• The Department of Chemistry becomes the School of Chemistry, continuing nearly 300 years of excellence in chemical sciences.