Mission & Values
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Harvard’s Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology (CCB) takes an interdisciplinary approach to discover new chemical phenomena, design technologies for a more sustainable and healthy world, and craft novel medicines for uncurable or intractable diseases.
CCB's inclusive, supportive, and innovative community collaborates with a vast network of university- and hospital-based research and education programs. With the creative power of diverse perspectives, we can explore new chemical frontiers and build the next generation of innovative scientists and educators. We educate and train scientists at all career stages and across disciplines, including undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars.
Our Mission & Values
Our mission is to make critical discoveries and advancements in both chemistry and chemical biology, in basic discovery and applied or clinical settings. We are committed to transforming research ranging from sustainable energy technologies to human disease, and to training the next generation to explore creative new frontiers through a vast range of disciplines.
We see scientific exploration as a service to humankind, and diversity of discipline, background, and perspective as essential to its success.
Collaboration
CCB is a starting point to launch innovation networks and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Our faculty collaborate across sectors with research institutions at Harvard and across the world, entrepreneurs, industry researchers, and discovery scientists in a wide range of settings, always with the goal of translating discoveries into solutions.
A Brief History
1771: The Erving Professorship of Chemistry, named for William Erving, Harvard graduate and British army major, was the first gift for chemical education in the newly formed United States.
1819: The first American chemistry textbook, "The Elements of Chemical Science" was written by John Gorham, the Harvard Erving Professor of Chemistry.
1850: In the basement of University Hall, Harvard built its first experimental chemistry laboratory to teach undergraduates. It had no gas or running water.
1860: The first American chemical physics journal, "Elements of Chemical Physics" was written by Josiah Parsons Cooke, the Harvard Erving Professor of Chemistry.
1877: Harvard's first Ph.D. in chemistry was awarded to Frank Austin Gooch, a mentee of Professor Cooke.
1914: Theodore William Richards is the first American recipient of a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in determining atomic weights.
Academic Degrees
We offer three separate undergraduate degrees in chemistry, chemistry & physics, and chemical & physical biology as well as two distinct graduate degrees in chemistry and chemical physics.
CCB By the Numbers
Over 500 people work, research, study and teach in the five-building, 200,000 square foot chemistry complex.
Faculty Snapshot Senior faculty 22 Junior faculty 5 Emeritus faculty 6 Other academic 78 | Education Snapshot Total students 417 Postdoctoral fellows 114 Graduate students 158 Undergraduate concentrators 56 Non-CCB students in CCB labs 64 | Staff Snapshot Total staff 64 Core department staff 10 Finance 11 Faculty support staff 24 Research staff 8 Undergraduate education staff 6 Centers and core facilities staff 3 Facilities 2 |
Faculty Honors & Awards
7 Nobel Prize Laureates | Martin Karplus, 2013 E J Corey, 1990 Dudley Herschbach, 1986 William Lipscomb, 1976 Robert Burns Woodward, 1965 Konrad Bloch, 1964 Theodore W. Richards, 1914 |
3 Wolf Prize in Chemistry Recipients | Stuart Schreiber, 2016 Charles Lieber, 2012 E J Corey, 1986 |
9 National Medal of Science Recipients | George Whitesides, 1998 Dudley Herschbach, 1991 E J Corey, 1988 Konrad Bloch, 1988 Frank Westheimer, 1986 E. Bright Wilson, 1975 Paul Bartlett, 1968 George Kistiakowsky, 1967 Robert Burns Woodward, 1964 |
5 Priestley Medal | George Whitesides, 2007 E J Corey, 2004 Frank Westheimer, 1988 George Kistiakowsky, 1972 James Bryant Conant, 1944 |
11 Welch Award | Stuart Schreiber, 2025 Eric Jacobsen, 2024 Charles Lieber, 2019 Richard Holm, 2016 David Evans, 2013 Christopher Walsh, 2010 George Whitesides, 2005 Jeremy Knowles, 1995 William von Eggers Doering, 1990 Frank Westheimer, 1982 Paul Bartlett, 1981 E. Bright Wilson, 1978 |
Japan Prize | E J Corey, 1989 |
Kyoto Prize | George Whitesides, 2003 |
Albany Prize | Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, 2015 |
2 Blavatnik Prize | Xiaowei Zhuang, 2018 Adam Cohen, 2014 |
4 Cotton Award | Daniel Nocera, 2023 Cynthia M. Friend, 2022 George M. Whitesides, 2011 Richard H. Holm, 2005 |
3 National Academy of Science Award in Chemical Sciences | E J Corey, 2002 Richard Holm, 1993 Frank Westheimer, 1980 |
3 Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences | Xiaowei Zhaung 2023 James Anderson, 2021 George Whitesides, 2009 |
Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences | Xiaowei Zhuang, 2019 |
New Horizons in Physics Prize | Kang-Kuen Ni, 2023 |
Eni Award for Innovation in Energy | Roy Gordon, 2019 |
Bolded names are current members of our faculty