Printed: 2013-06-18
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University of British Columbia. Dept. of Chemistry
Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
University of British Columbia. Dept. of Chemistry
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1914-
History
The history of the Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia can be traced back to 1914 when President F.F. Wesbrook recruited Douglas McIntosh from McGill University to become the first professor of chemistry and one of the first four appointees to the UBC faculty. Ebenezer H. Archibald became the second member of the department in 1915, and the following year, Robert H. Clark was appointed. McIntosh served as department head until 1920 when he left the University to accept a position in industry. Archibald assumed the position until 1927 when he resigned because of illness and was succeeded by Robert Clark who continued in this capacity for over twenty years, before retiring in 1948. The late 1940s represented a trying period because resignation, retirement and death reduced the number of professors in the department to three. In 1949, Sperrin Chant (Dean of Arts and Science and head of the Dept. of Psychology) became acting head of the department until replaced later in the year by Gilbert Hooley. In 1964, the Department of Chemistry moved to the newly created Faculty of Science following the split of the Faculty of Arts and Science.
