{"id":25,"date":"2014-02-25T14:10:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T19:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/history-of-science-at-williams\/?page_id=25"},"modified":"2014-02-26T13:14:23","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T18:14:23","slug":"notable-events-timeline","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/history-of-science-at-williams\/notable-events-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Notable Events Timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

1791<\/b><\/span> 15 scholars are admitted to the “Free School” in Williamstown.<\/p>\n

1793<\/b><\/span> The Free School is converted from an English and grammar school into a College and granted a charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

1794<\/b><\/span> Two Williams College ‘tutors’ become the first full professors.<\/p>\n

1795<\/b><\/span> The First college catalog ever issued by any American college or university is published by Williams College.<\/p>\n

1801<\/b><\/span> The First Professorship of Natural Philosophy is established.<\/p>\n

1806<\/b><\/span> Mr. Olds is made the first professor of Mathematics at Williams<\/p>\n

1810<\/b><\/span> The Physics Department is established.<\/p>\n

1816<\/b><\/span> Williams College is the first college in America to start taking meteorological observations.<\/p>\n

1817<\/b><\/span> Amos Eaton lectures for a year in geology and botany, and sparks a great interest in the sciences.<\/p>\n

1817<\/b><\/span> Chester Dewey is one of the first educators to take his classes into the field to study botany.<\/p>\n

1821<\/b><\/span> Williams College Graduates organize the world’s first Society of Alumni to support their alma mater.<\/p>\n

1825<\/b><\/span> The first Natural History Society connected with an educational institution is founded at Williams. This secretive Society is founded and run primarily by students, but after three years of growing popularity the Society breaks its vows of secrecy and renames itself the Lyceum of Natural History.<\/p>\n

1834<\/b><\/span> Albert Hopkins is the first Williams Professor to visit Europe with an institutional mission: procuring instruments and apparatus for the improving the collections of the philosophy and chemistry departments.<\/p>\n

1835<\/b><\/span> Edward Lasellis is named the first Professor of Chemistry<\/p>\n

1835<\/b><\/span> Ebenezer Emmons and Albert Hopkins lead a twenty man expedition to Nova Scotia to collect a wealth of specimens for their museum. This is the first enterprise of the sort to be undertaken by any college. Later expeditions are made to Florida and South America<\/p>\n

1838<\/b><\/span> Hopkins Observatory is built. It is the first in the U.S. built exclusively for the purpose of serving an educational institution.<\/p>\n

1855<\/b><\/span> Jackson Hall is erected to house the growing collection of specimens belonging to the Lyceum of Natural History.<\/p>\n

1861<\/b><\/span> $10,000 is donated by Dr. William Walker for the establishment of a quadrennial scientific expedition.<\/p>\n

1850<\/b><\/span> Remains of a Mastodon are added to the Collection of the Lyceum of Natural History.<\/p>\n

1873-1874<\/b><\/span> Mineralogy is added to the curriculum<\/p>\n

1874-1875<\/b><\/span> Differential and Integral Calculus becomes optional.<\/p>\n

1875<\/b><\/span> 22% of all the books in the Williams College Libraries pertain to science or scientific knowledge.<\/p>\n

1877<\/b><\/span> Science professors begin to specialize in one or two subjects instead of teaching a multitude of quasi-related courses and the administration begins to seek faculty with Ph.D.’s.<\/p>\n

1878-1879<\/b><\/span> Mechanics is added to the curriculum<\/p>\n

1880-1881<\/b><\/span> The College purchases the Wilder Cabinet collection for the Lyceum of Natural History.<\/p>\n

1888<\/b><\/span> The Department of Chemistry and Physics separates into two departments.<\/p>\n

1893<\/b><\/span> The Thompson Laboratories are built.<\/p>\n

1896<\/b><\/span> The Honor System is implemented at Williams College.<\/p>\n

1899<\/b><\/span> Jesup hall is built.<\/p>\n

1902<\/b><\/span> President of Williams College Henry Hopkins implements a new curriculum based on group system.<\/p>\n

1903<\/b><\/span> Botany is separated from Geology and becomes part of the Biology department.<\/p>\n

1903-1912<\/b><\/span> The Physics Department publishes lab manuals on various topics.<\/p>\n

1905 <\/b><\/span> A valuable collection of tertiary fossils is added to Clark Hall.<\/p>\n

1905<\/b><\/span> There is an 80% increase in staff of the sciences, and the College over all, in order to decrease class size and maintain the quality of teaching.<\/p>\n

1906<\/b><\/span> A new biology course, “Theory of Biology,” demonstrates growing acceptance and trend towards Darwinism.<\/p>\n

1908<\/b><\/span> Clark Hall, home of the Lyceum of Natural History collection, is deemed unsafe and torn down. It is replaced with funds provided by Mrs. Bishop Potter.<\/p>\n

1908<\/b><\/span> Hopkins Observatory is moved for the first time to make room for a dormitory.<\/p>\n

1910-1911<\/b><\/span> President Garfield organizes departments based upon sciences and foreign languages. This system is similar to the Divisions that are created later in the century.<\/p>\n

1912<\/b><\/span> The renovation of Thompson Chemical Laboratories begins.<\/p>\n

1915<\/b><\/span> Thompson Chemical Laboratories is destroyed by fire just three years after renovations.<\/p>\n

1916 <\/b><\/span>Work begins on a new chemistry building.<\/p>\n

1917 <\/b><\/span> The College establishes Reserve Officer Training Corps. New courses are created in Military Art and Navigation. The College adopts Students Army Training Corps (SATC) which is taught largely by the science staff.<\/p>\n

1920<\/b><\/span> The Geology major is created.<\/p>\n

1924<\/b><\/span> A Plant House is presented to the College and named in honor of the Professor of Zoology Samuel F. Clarke.<\/p>\n

1926-1927<\/b><\/span> Honors work is introduced into the College.<\/p>\n

1931<\/b><\/span> Science Club lectures begin.<\/p>\n

1933<\/b><\/span> The New England Intercollegiate Geological Excursion is held at Williams College.<\/p>\n

1934<\/b><\/span> Mrs. Theresa B. Hopkins gives Hopkins Forest to Williams College as a memorial to her late husband, Amos Lawrence Hopkins.<\/p>\n

1935<\/b><\/span> Hopkins Forest is turned over to the Government to be used as an experimental forestry station.<\/p>\n

1935<\/b><\/span> Mrs. Emily Cleland, a graduate of Smith College, finished teaching the Geology course after her husband, Professor Herdman Cleland, along with the rest of the student-faculty expedition to the Yucatan, dies in a steam ship accident. Mrs. Cleland is the first woman to teach at Williams College.<\/p>\n

1936<\/b><\/span> “Science for Non-Scientists” courses are offered. Created to make the sciences more appealing to a larger portion of the student body and to raise awareness of technology, which is becoming a larger and larger part of every day life.<\/p>\n

1937<\/b><\/span> Williams College hosts the 58th annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.<\/p>\n

1937-1938<\/b><\/span> The MIT\/Williams Engineering Collaborative is created.<\/p>\n

1938<\/b><\/span> Two psychology courses, “Psychology and Philosophy of the State,” and “General Psychology” are listed under the Philosophy department.<\/p>\n

1941<\/b><\/span> Williams College begins to alter its curriculum to accommodate the large number of students enlisting in the military for World War II.<\/p>\n

1941<\/b><\/span> The Board of Trustees approves $100,000 for a three-story addition to Thompson Chemistry Laboratories that will unite the Chemistry and Biology buildings.<\/p>\n

1941-1945<\/b><\/span> Many Professors in the Science Department are transferred to larger research facilities and universities to participate in the war effort.<\/p>\n

1942<\/b><\/span> In an attempt to decrease dropout rates due to the war, Williams College institutes an accelerated graduation program that lasts two years and eight months, instead of the customary four years. In addition, the College lowers tuition costs and creates programs (ROTC) and classes geared towards military sciences:<\/p>\n