This Department is one of the largest Chemistry Departments in Britain with a long and distinguished history
 as a leading Research School. Henry Roscoe, Professor of Chemistry from 1857 to 1886, built the first ever
practical chemistry laboratory in Britain and with Roscoe's support, his assistant, Carl Schörlemmer, was
appointed to Britain's first chair of Organic Chemistry in 1874.

Arthur Harden (1929),
Walter Howarth (1937),
Robert Robinson (1947),
Alexander Todd (1957),
Melvin Calvin (1961),
John Charles Polanyi (1986),
and Michael Smith (1993)

were past students, research fellows and/or staff members of this Department and they were all
awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (date in brackets).