The Effects and Changes in the Chemistry Courses Offered in the Williamson County Science Building

   The Effects and Changes in the Chemistry Courses Offered in the 

Williamson County Science Building 

By Sav Frieze

         The Williamson County Science Building was established in 1916 and up until 1951 it developed a rich and important role in the history of Southwestern University. Its history can be seen overlapping with what was happening outside of Georgetown, Texas , and even the United States. Its important role specifically, in the field of chemistry, brought in new ideas, amazing instructors such as John Campbell Godbey, the V-12 Unit,  and new curricular. More importantly it set the framework for Southwestern to continue to build on the well-established science program that had been established already. One of the most impactful events that changed the development of the field of chemistry across the world and at Southwestern was World War II.  This is seen by looking at the course catalogs for the school years ranging from 1935-1936, 1943-1944 , to 1950-1951 the effects the war had on the chemistry program at Southwestern University such as more courses being offered and having a diverse set of options is evident. 

         Understanding why chemistry had finally become more important than other popular sciences at this time, such as biology, helps seeing the change within the courses offered easier to follow.  Having this information will help make understanding how this affected the course catalogs from school year to school year. Looking at the history and development of chemistry,  specifically organic chemistry, it allows us to see that it appears “somewhat retarded”, because it was not a steady or linear process. The field of chemistry was a constant rollercoaster and had its peaks and falls throughout the years. It was not until the war efforts, during World War II, that this field of science finally reached a peak and “began to flourish in this country”. This was due to the national crisis of preventing as many casualties in the war as war veterans were trying to fight illnesses off like infections. Therefore, the increase of teaching chemistry and development of this field began. Its increase was due to the growing development and demand of knowledge behind this field of study. During the war chemistry played a major role in the search for Synthetic Penicillin. Alexander Felming was the one to discover that Penicillin had the “ability to inhibit or stop staphylococcal growth”, which would later be important for the treatment of infected wounds. Although Penicillin was discovered in 1922 it did not pique the interest of chemists until 1940. Since finding this drug was a matter of “national defense” and chemists from Great Britain and America needed to come together to solve how Penicillin could potentially save lives. The World War II allied powers understood that having their best organic chemist on hand and working together to supply this “miracle drug” to their veterans would drastically help the number of casualties lost, due to small scale issues such as infections from poor living arrangements and grooming. Preventing as many casualties as possible due to infections would be the difference between losing the war to the axis powers, more importantly Germany. Soldiers were not living in the best conditions, which made them susceptible to staph because of the number of cuts, small injuries, and major injuries that they were experiencing at this time. This showed that Chemistry did not just become a hot commodity in the United States, there was a national peak of interest in the 1940's because the allied powers were all fighting towards the same cause of winning the war and keeping as many soldiers alive as they possibly could. Science was no longer a nation-to-nation issue, where individuals were on their own journey to discover different medicines,  it was a national issue which required more accessibility for different chemists to come together to solve one common goal, which was to make Synthetic Penicillin useful.

         The course catalogs held a plethora of information from who the professor was for that school year, what courses were available, and whom they were directed to. The most notable professor at the time was Godbey and he set up the success of the chemistry program at Southwestern. Godbey oversaw the entire chemistry department where he set up what courses would be offered, what the curriculum would be, and how these courses would be graded. He ultimately oversaw every single aspect of this department at the time and how the department developed over the years. Along with the description of faculty it listed all eighteen to twenty-two different courses offered at the time, depending on the year, and for whom the courses were suggested. The catalogs ranging from 1935 to the year 1950, display a list of courses that emphasized the war efforts and groups who were involved in them. The courses offered were a direct reflection of what was happening on a national level during this time. Courses offered in 1935, like chemistry of food and textiles were no longer available in 1943. This could be because of the fact that the pre-war era had a major emphasis on improving life at home for families while during the war there was emphasis on defeating the axis power, military personnel, science, and technology. The four organic chemistry courses that were offered in 1935 were now directed towards the V-12 program in 1943 and became a requirement for that Naval Program. The V-12 program was a training course for the navy that started in the summer of 1943, to help with the war effort. A new course, quantitative analysis was introduced to the chemistry program during World War II, which was ultimately a class on identifying elements or groups of elements present in a sample or unknown substance. Quantitative analysis was one of the many courses that were offered to the V-12 program and were a requirement. Between these two course catalogs it is easy to see that although the 1943 catalog only offered eighteen courses instead of the nineteen that were offered the previous years the courses were adequate to what was happening on a national level. Courses were now directed towards individuals who would be joining in the war in some fashion whether they were fighting or were going to be aiding the sick. Courses like engineering materials, organic chemistry, and quantitative chemistry seemed to be more important than the study of metals or food and textiles. This is because jobs such as chemical engineers, chemists, and many more played a role in World War II, the most notable being the atomic bomb. Once you compare the course catalogs during and after the war you can also see the impact the war had on the importance of chemistry. Southwestern went from only offering eighteen courses in 1935 to offering over twenty courses in 1950 for the chemistry department. This was not just a trend at Southwestern University, but could be seen when looking at other colleges, specifically Middlebury College. The same pattern of development within the chemistry department was still evident at other institutions, thus proving that chemistry had once again reached a peak due to the war and this was on a national level not just at one institution. Middlebury had offered only fifteen courses for the school year of 1945 and increased to nineteen courses by the year 1954, which followed a similar pattern to Southwestern. Although some of the courses Southwestern offered had multiple different sections of the same course the diversity amongst the courses offered was still greater in the later years during and post-World War II, which was the case for many other Universities. New courses were introduced in the chemistry department at Southwestern such as: petroleum analysis, qualitative analysis, gravimetric analysis, volumetric analysis, general mineralogy, and even an additional organic chemistry course section. Chemistry had finally gained a profound level of importance in the science field and was no longer the “dismal science”, which historians had referred to it as for years, due to the lack of interest and importance it held within the sciences.

      The Williamson County Science Building offered us some wonderful things and gave us a framework to continuously develop the science programs at Southwestern to be one of best. During this time of development for the field of chemistry, so many great opportunities, developments, instruments, instructors and more all walked in and out of this building. Being able to see that one event had an impact on something so small like a course catalog at a university is interesting to see how science and the world are so intertwined. Science is constantly changing and developing and that means the courses we offer, who teaches, and who influences these topics or what influences these topics are always improving the field, not just of chemistry, but science.

Refrences: 

1. Servos, John W. History of Chemistry. 1. Vol. 1. University of Chicago Press, 1985.
2. Swan, John Patrick. The Search for Synthetic Penicillin during World War II. 16. 2nd ed. Vol. 16. Cambridge University Press, 1983
3. Middlebury College. Middlebury College Catalog, 1954. Catalogs, 1954
4. Middlebury College. Middlebury College Catalog, 1945. Catalogs, 1945.