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History

This document was written by R.A. Day, former Chair and longtime teacher in the Department. To view each chapter, simply click on the chapter heading. The chapters are fairly long so we have added navigation buttons within the text.

Tribute to the Author

Preface

Chapter 1, The Early Years: 1919 - 1930

Chapter 2, The Depression Years: 1930 - 1940

Chapter 3, The War and Postwar Years: Start of the Doctoral Program, 1940 - 1950

Chapter 4, The Korean War; the Eisenhower Years: 1950 - 1960

Chapter 5, Plans for a New Building; the Vietnam War: 1960 - 1970

Chapter 6, The New Building; the $100 Million Gift: 1970 - 1983

Chapter 7, The Recent Years; the Emerson Center: 1983 - 1997

A Tribute to the Author

Tribute to R.A. Day
Since R. A. did not emphasize his own major impact on this history, it is fitting to include here the introductory comments made when he was presented the Arts and Science Award of Distinction in September 2001.
"Ladies and gentlemen, when R.A. Day comes up here you'll be looking at a giant. R.A. Day is one of the founders of modem Emory, one of the great teacher-scholars who built this University and prepared the launch pad for its recent ascent into international prominence."
"From the beginning, chemistry has always been one of Emory's most distinguished and prestigious departments, the home of legends. It has been R.A. Day's home for almost 70 years, and for many of those years it was chaired by him."
"Dr. Day came to Emory in the early 1930s, the depths of the Great Depression. He has helped this institution grow and thrive in war and peace; he has helped prepare thousands of our alumni for careers in medicine and science; and he can now look back on the rich heritage of the Department of Chemistry."
"Looking back, he has written a wonderful, informal history of the Department. It is utterly unlike the standard, stuffy institutional accounts. This one has a sense of humor. I look forward to its publication after David Goldsmith and other recent chairs have added their 2 cents worth. They'll be held to a high standard."
"R.A. Day has been part of Emory's life for as long as most of us have lived. And it is a central part of his life. He met his wife Marjorie at Emory: she earned a baccalaureate here in 1940, before women were supposed to; and a masters in biochemistry in 1943. And their four children all graduated from the College: Patricia, Timothy, Michael, and Dr. Peter Day who is a specialist here in emerging technologies (a chip off the old block). Would this wonderful family please rise?"
"And would the patriarch come forward? Professor Emeritus R.A. Day."
The citation to the award follows.

Robert A. Paul Gary Wihl
Dean, Emory College Dean, Graduate School

Preface

I had never thought of writing a history of the Chemistry Department at Emory until John Ingersoll, of the College Office, and Dennis Liotta, then chair of the department, urged me to do so in the middle 1990's. I got the impression that the history might be published in some form and distributed to alumni. I was hesitant to undertake the project since I realized that about all I could probably do would be to compile a set of facts about the various professors, students, alumni, course, etc., and that this would be rather dull reading. I then decided that it would be more interesting to me and perhaps to readers if I included some stories I remembered about faculty and students over the years. I called these "End Notes" for want of a better name. I then decided to give it a try and these are the results.
The principle sources of information on the department and students were the College and Graduate School catalogues, the Emory Wheel, the Alumni Magazine, the Campus (year book), graduation programs, and a series of departmental newsletters. All of these are in the Special Collections division of the library. Dr. Thomas English's book on the History of the University from 1915 to 1965 furnished valuable information on the early days of the University.
Some catalogues in the early 20's have lists of all undergraduate students in the various classes and I recognized a number of names that I had heard mentioned by Drs. Guy or Quayle. The names of graduate students were also listed at this time, including the department of concentration. Here I recognized such names as Ruby Mae Sherard, later wife of Dean Prentice Miller, and Margaret A. Belle Isle, later wife of Registrar Luke Clegg. In later years, as enrollment grew it was increasingly difficult to identify all undergraduate chemistry majors. However, after the Honors Program was introduced in the 60's, the graduation programs did identify students graduating with honors by the department of concentration and I did include them.
In the first version of the project I included practically every item I found in the sources mentioned above. Items about the faculty, such as grants, meeting attended, papers given at meetings, etc., were included. The names of students receiving the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees were listed, at least up to 1983. All the items I could find about alumni were also included. Lists of chemistry majors who continued graduate work at other universities and received doctoral degrees in the 20's, 30's and 40's are given. As might be expected, this first version was extremely lengthy. After getting comments from a number of alumni, I decided to do a shorter version which, for want of a better name, is called a "Brief History of the Chemistry Department." In this version most of the details mentioned above were omitted and an attempt made to focus on only major news about faculty, students and alumni. The result is still somewhat long but may be of more general interest to alumni and more likely to be publishable. I originally intended to conclude the writing at 1983, the year Leon Mandell left the department to become a dean at the University of South Florida. I had retired in 1981 and thought that someone still active in the department could do a better job of these later years. However, since no one volunteered for the job, I took a couple of reports written by former chairmen Dave Goldsmith and Joel Bowman, as well as several reports on the generous gifts to the department by alumnus Cherry Emerson, and covered the years up to 1997. Then, as other major news items developed, I added them and have brought the date up to the year 2001. At the time of this writing, the Cherry Logan Emerson Hall has been completed and no decision had been made about the publication of this document. In any case, both the long and brief versions will be available on floppy disks and placed in the Special Collections section of the Emory Library as well as the Chemistry Library. I have printed copies of both versions, one with a number of photographs, which I have instructed my heirs to offer to the Chemistry Department or Special collections. In any case, I have enjoyed writing about the department at Emory as it has grown from a one-man faculty in 1919 to a department with a world-class reputation as the year 2002 approaches.
I wish to express my appreciation to Ron Johnson who has been extremely helpful in providing computer aid for the project. I will always feel grateful to Drs. J. Sam Guy and Osbourne R. Quayle for their inspirational teaching when I was a student and for giving me the opportunity to spend 41 more years in the Chemistry Department at Emory.

R.A. Day

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