Department of Chemical Engineering

Heads of the Department of Chemical Engineering

In 1888 Lewis Mills Norton established a program in chemical engineering, Course X, in the Department of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which eventually became the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. In July 1920 Chemical Engineering became a separate department.

The School of Chemical Engineering Practice was established in 1916 to provide students with practical experience in industrial facilities. MIT practice stations were established at industrial plants where students worked on projects but remained under the supervision of the MIT resident staff and director. Since its founding, the practice school has operated about twenty stations.

In 1951 a division of nuclear engineering was established in the Department of Chemical Engineering. This division became the Department of Nuclear Engineering in 1958.

http://web.mit.edu/cheme/

Prepared by the Department of Distinctive Collections, MIT Libraries
November 1995; updated February 2007