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Noyes Laboratory:
One Hundred Years of Chemistry

A Century of Accomplishment
The Bare Facts
Nobel Prize Winners
ACS Presidents
Priestley Medal Winner

Fine Chemicals

The Illinois State Water Survey

Chemists and Chemistry at Noyes:
Roger Adams: "The Chief"
Ludwig F. Audrieth and Synthetic Sweeteners
John C. Bailar Jr. and Coordination Chemistry
St. Elmo Brady: Pioneer
George L. Clark and High-Intensity X-Ray Tubes
Willis H. Flygare and Microwave Spectrometry
Reynold C. Fuson: Teaching Chemistry
Herbert S. Gutowsky and NMR Spectroscopy
B. Smith Hopkins and the Chemistry of Rare Earths
Henry Fraser Johnstone and the Study of Air Pollution
Herbert A. Laitinen and Analytical Chemistry
Carl "Speed" Marvel: Advances in Polymer Chemistry
William A. Noyes: The Department Comes of Age
Arthur W. Palmer: The Early Years
Samuel W. Parr and Applied Chemistry
Charles C. Price III and Antimalarials
Worth H. Rodebush and Physical Chemistry
William C. Rose and Amino Acids
George F. Smith and the Aerosol Can
Harold R. Snyder and Antimalarials
Marion Sparks and Chemical Information

Landmark Designation

Noyes Laboratory: A Century of Accomplishment

The principal occupant of Noyes Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been the Department of Chemistry. But Noyes Laboratory incorporated a groundbreaking design that provided excellent research and teaching facilities for hundreds of faculty and thousands of students. As such, Noyes also housed at various times the departments of Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Bacteriology, and the Illinois State Water Survey.

The roster of scientists who studied or taught at Noyes Laboratory reads like a who’s who of American chemistry. It includes ten Nobel Prizewinners; twenty-three presidents of the American Chemical Society; and twelve winners of the Priestley Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society. The first African American to receive a doctoral degree in Chemistry did his research at Noyes Laborator.

But the mere naming of prominent scientists who have been associated with Noyes Laboratory through its history does not detail the important research that has taken place within its walls. Such a list would include the development of NMR spectroscopy as a tool for chemists by Herbert Gutowsky, the elucidation of the theory of electron transfer by Rudolph Marcus, the development of Fourier-transform microwave spectrometry by William Flygare, advances in the field of chemical information by Marion Sparks, the pioneering research in coordination chemistry in the United States by John C. Bailar Jr., the discovery of the amino acid threonine by William C. Rose and its synthesis by Herbert Carter, and the work of Roger Adams on identifying the active ingredients in marijuana. Other advances that occurred at Noyes include the discovery of the synthetic sweetener cyclamate by Ludwig Audrieth and Michael Sveda, the discovery of lipoic acid by Irwin Gunsulas, the invention of high-intensity X-ray tubes by George Clark, and the seminal studies on air pollution by Henry Fraser Johnstone. The manufacture of fine chemicals took place at Noyes after the traditional source, Germany, dried up during the First World War. From that project two important series originated at Noyes Laboratory: Organic Syntheses, founded in 1921 and Organic Reactions, founded in 1942, both initiated by Roger Adams.

The Bare Facts
The west half of Noyes Laboratory, built in 1901-1902, resembled the letter "E" in shape. Its dimensions were 230 feet along the front and 116 feet along the wings. This original part of Noyes Laboratory contained 77,884 square feet of usable space and cost slightly less than the $100,000 the Illinois legislature appropriated. The east half of Noyes Laboratory was completed in 1915-1916; it gave the entire building the shape of a hollow square, 231 feet by 202 feet, with 164,280 square feet of working space. The east wing added 86,396 square feet of additional space and cost $250,000, about two and one-half times the cost of the original building.

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