JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
DOCTORATES IN CHEMISTRY FROM SOUTHERN INSTITUTIONS, 1881-1951 WILL S. DeLOACH Mississippi State college for Women, Columbus, Mississippi
IN 1881 Vanderbilt University awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry. So far as the author has been able to discover, this was the first doctorate in chemistry granted by an institution located in the Southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. There was not another until the University of Virginia granted one in 1888. The University of North Carolina gave the next in 1894. The first two decades of the twentieth century saw only an occasional degree from these three universities, and from Washington and Lee. Soon after World War I they were joined by Rice Institute and George Peabody College, and a t about that time the number of degrees given began to increase. Duke and the University of Texas entered the field in about 1930, the University of Florida and Louisiana State University in the mid-thirties, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the early forties. Tulane, the University of Tennessee, and Emory granted their first degrees after World War 11. Other Southern institutions now have active programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in chemistry but had granted none through 1951. North Carolina State College and Washington and Lee University no longer offer this degree.
A total of 829 degrees has been awarded by all of the institutions, with the greatest number in any one year being 110 in 1950. The University of Texas, with 192, has granted the largest number of degrees, while the University of North Carolina, with 24 in 1950, has the greatest number in a single year. The information given in the table was obtained, first, from lists of doctors' dissertations in science that have been published annually, with only a few breaks, since 1898. Figures from 1934 through 1950 were obtained from the 1950 volume of "Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities" (1) and references to the sources prior to that period were found in the 1934 volume of the same series (9). From all of these published reports a preliminary list of Ph.D.'s granted in chemistry was prepared for each Southern institution. Each list was sent to the school in question where it was checked for accuracy and completeness, and corrected if necessary. Degrees in related fields, including biochemistry, were excluded when recognized. In an effort to make the data as nearly complete as possible, each State Department of Education was asked for names of institutions that are now giving, or have ever given, Ph.D.'s in chemistry. It is believed that the figures in the table are accurate, but it is entirely possible that some degrees, especially
APRIL, 1952
Year 1881 1888 1894 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1906 1908 1909 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951
Total
Va* derbilt
191
Znalitulim Nmth Wash. Pen- N. C. ginia Carolina & Lee Rim body Stale Duke Tezas
Vir-
FlorTu- T a - Emida L.S.U. V.P.Z. lane nessee ory
Totol
1
.
29
147
169
4
38
7
2
in the early years, have not been included. Any information,. especially to correct errors of omission, . will he welcome. The degree granted by Vanderb'ilt University in 1881 was earned bv John Thomas McGill. Efforts to-learn Dr. ~ c ~ i f l dissertation 's title have so far been unsuccessful. At least one, and probably two, honorary Ph.D.'s in chemistry were granted prior to this. The University of Mississippi awarded Robert Hills Loughridge an honorary Ph.D. in chemistry in 1877. "American Men of Science" in its first edition (3) lists Samuel Anthony Goldschmidt, whose field was chemistry, with a Ph.D. from Emory in 1875. Emory University did not offer an earned Ph.D. a t that time and records are no longer available, but it is believed that the degree was honorary (4).
99
192
31
54
7
13
22
15
829
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author wishes to express his appreciation for the help given by the registrars, chemistry department heads, and other university officials who generously supplied the needed information. LITERATURE CITED (1) T n o n ~ n , ARNOLDH., AND MBIAN HARMAN, Editora, "Doctoral Dissertittions Accepted by American Universities," No. 17, The H. W. Wilson Co., New York, 1950. (2) GILCHRIST,D O N ~ B D., Editor, " D o q ~ lDissertationa Accepted by American Universities, No. 1, The H. W. Wilson Co., New York, 1934. (3) CA-LL, J. MGKEEN,Editor, "American Men of Science," 1st ed., The Science Press, New York, 1906. (4) Private commuoication from Mr. L. L. Clegg, Director of Admissions, Emory University.
