Clarence 8. Lindquist
U. S. Office of Education Washington, D. C.
Chemistry Degrees During the Decade of
During the decade of the 19501s, the number of bachelor's degrees in chemistry' declined from 10,619 in the year 1949-50 to 5791 in 1953-54, and then increased steadily again, reaching a total of 7308 by 1958-59. The number of master's degrees in chemistry declined from 1576 in 1949-50 to 1098 in 1953-54 and then did not vary much from this latter figure for the remainder of the decade. The number of doctorates in chemistry remained fairly constant during the entire decade, approximating nearly 1000 per year. The number of degrees in chemistry conferred annually a t each level from 1949-50 through 1958-59, together with their percentages of all degrees at each level are shown in Table 1. The data in this table were obtained from the annual series Earned Degrees Conferred by Higher Educatiaal Institutions published by the U. S. Office of Education. Each annual report covers a period from July 1 to the following June 30. No distinction is made between degrees earned in liberal arts or in preparation for teaching. The criterion used is that there be a substantive major in chemistry. Double majors are counted as one-half in each discipline (a double major in chemistry and mathematics is allocated one-half to chemistry and one-half to mathematics). For the teu-year period as a whole, the 70,437 degrees conferred in chemistry at the bachelor's level constituted 2.05% of the total number of bachelor's and first-professional degrees; the 12,410 chemistry master's degrees were 2.00% of the total number of master's degrees; and the 9984 chemistry doctorates were 1 Degrees in biochemistry are not included in these tabulations. In the Office of Education reports, biochemistry is included with the biological sciences. The numbers of biochemistry degrees are relatively small, averaging 144 per year at the bachelor's level, 136 at the master's level, and 132 at the doctoral level.
Table 1.
11.92% of the total number of earned doctorates (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.). The number of doctorates in chemistry is about 20% less than the number of master's degrees for the decade. It appears, therefore, that if a student obtains a master's degree in chemistry, it is very likely that he will go on and get a doctorate. The number of bachelor's degrees in chemistry constitute more than 50y0 of all the physical science degrees combined; the master's degrees, about 42%; and the doctorates, about 60%. A further fact to be noted is that chemistry as a per cent of all degrees awarded declined rather steadily during- the entire decade, at each of the levels. Beginning with the 1954-55 survey, the Office of Edneation nublished the numbers of institutions., bv " level of degrees, which conferred degrees in the various disciplines for each year. The number of institutions conferring degrees in chemistry a t the bachelor's level increased from 752 in 1954-55 to 808 in 195&59; at the master's level, from 183 to 187, and at the doctor's level, from 91 to 97, over the same years. It must be remembered that the number of institutions granting degrees in a specific discipline at a certain level in a given year will not usually represent the universe of institutions authorized to grant these degrees because in some years some of the institutions lack students completing the requirements for such a degree. ~
Comparison with Degrees in Companion Disciplines
The annual number of bachelor's degrees in chemistry, although climbing steadily in recent years, is still far short of the decade maximum of 10,619 reached in 1949-50. Physics and the mathematical subjects (mathematics and statistics) likewise experienced declines during the early part of the decade, but each field
Number of Degrees Conferred Annually in Chemistry by Level of Degrees: 1949-50 Through 1958-59'
Year ending June 30
-Barhelor's Numher of degrees conferred
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
10,619 8,258 6,819 5,943 5,791 5,920 6,178 6,591 7,010 7,308
degreePer cent of all degrees at this level" 2.45 2.15 2.05 1.95 I .98 2.06 1.99 1.94 1.92 1.90
-Master's Number of degrees conferred 1576 1462 1409 1211 1098 1173 1164 1047 1125 1145
degreesPer cent of d l degrees at this level 2.71 2.25 2.22 1.98 1.93 2.02 1.96 1.69 1.72 1.65
DootoraPer cent of Number of degrees all degrees conferred at this level 953 14.37 1046 14.26 1031 13.42 999 12.02 1013 11.26 1005 11.37 986 11.08 100'3 11.46 939 10.50 1009 10.78
According to data in an advance report issued in the Fall of 1961 by the U. S. Office of Education, there were 7603 bachelor's, 1228 master's, and 1048 doctor's degrees in chemistry conferred during the year 1959-60. The per cent at the bachelor's level is based upon all bachelor's and first-profensional degrees conferred that year.
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Table 2.
Degrees Awarded to Women Over the Ten-Year Period 1949-50 Through 1958-59
Per cent of degrees awarded to women in All physical Mathemetics All biological sciences and statistics sc~ences
All disciplines
Level of degree
Chemistry
Bachelor's and firsbpprofessional
17.4
12.2
28.6
22.2
32.3
Master's
12.2
8.3
18.8
20.1
32.0
Doctor's
4.7
3.9
5.3
10.9
9 R
(physics wit.h 4338 bachelor's degrees and mathematics and statistics with 9019 bachelor's degrees in 1958-59) exceeded the 1949-50 figures. Whereas degrees in chemistry exceeded degrees in mathematics and statistics by good margins in 1949-50 a t both the bachelor's and master's levels, by 1958-59 these positions were reversed, also by good margins. Like chemistry, geology with 2816 bachelor's degrees in 1958-59 had not returned by the end of the decade to its high figure (bachelor-level) of 3043 attained in 1949-50. For each year of the decade the number of doctorates conferred in chemistry exceeded the combined total of those conferred in physics, geology, and mathematics and statistics. The difference, however, was diminishing because the number in chemistry was holding fairly steady while, on the other hand, the numbers in each of the other disciplines were steadily increasing during the decade.
Table 3.
Doctorates in Chemistry Awarded 1949-50 Throuah 1958-59 -
Rank order
Institution
Ihyr.
Rank
total
order
Institntion
-
10-yr. total
Degrees Awarded to Women
The per cent of chemistry degrees awarded to women, by level of degree, for the ten-year period is shown in Table 2, along with the comparable per cents for all the physical sciences combined, for mathematics and statistics, for the biological sciences, and for all disciplines. It is seen from this table that chemistry is more popular among women than the physical sciences considered as a whole but less popular than mathematics and statistics, the biological sciences, or all disciplines combined. Institutional Comparisons
Table 3 shows the total number of chemistry doctorates awarded by 108 individual institutions for the tenyear period, 1949-50 through 195&59. The institutions are ranked in decreasing order of the total number of degrees each institution awarded during the tenyear period; the first 19 granted more doctorates in chemistry than did the remaining 89. The University of Illinois heads the list with 577, followed by California (all campuses) with 483, Ohio State with 357, and Wisconsin with 352. It was mentioned at the beginning of this article that biochemistry degrees were excluded from these tabulations. The University of Wisconsin leads in the number of biochemistry d~ctorat~es with 244, and California (all campuses) is second with 124; Illinois conferred 8 and Ohio State 39 during this same period. If doctorates in both chemistry and biochemistry were included in
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the tabulation, California (all campuses) would head the list with 607 degrees, followed by Wisconsin, 596; Illinois, 585; and Ohio State, 396. A further group of institutions which did not grant doctorates in chemistry during the 1950's will do so during the 1960's. Eight universities and colleges have thus far received support for new doctoral programs in chemistry under Title IV of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, bringing the numbers of institutions granting doctor's degrees in chemistry at least up to 115 (since one of the institutions listed in Table 3 has discontinued giving doctorate degrees). These institutions are Auburn, Brandeis, Clemson, Idaho, Maine, Miami (Florida), Mississippi, and Vermont.
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