C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

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

The Illinois State Water Survey

The Illinois State Water Survey began in 1895 as a unit in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. Its chief function was to test for the presence of waterborne disease, particularly typhoid fever. In its first fifteen months, the survey responded to 1,787 public requests to perform chemical analysis on water samples as part of its responsibility for maintaining the health and safety of public water supplies. The Water Survey’s other missions included addressing methods of water softening, the treatment of sewage and wastewater, and the creating of standards to insure sanitary drinking water. In 1907, the Water Survey occupied laboratories and workrooms in what is now known as Noyes Laboratory.

In 1917, the Water Survey became part of the state Department of Registration and Education. In that year, Illinois established a Board of Natural Resources and Conservation, composed of prominent scientists and others selected by the governor, to guide the activities of the Water Survey. Scientific investigations of the state’s water supply were expanded, and the Water Survey published the first state inventory of municipal ground-water supplies.

During the Second World War, chemists at the Water Survey worked with University of Illinois scientists and the federal government on the detection and removal of chemical warfare agents in water supplies. After the war, the Water Survey expanded its meteorological efforts and began to use radar to track severe storms. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred the state climatologist to the Water Survey.

In 1951, after forty-four years, the Water Survey left Noyes Laboratory and moved into the Water Resources Building. It was in this period that the pressure of population growth induced the Water Survey to seek expanded water resources. Water Survey chemists issued studies addressing reservoir development and new methods of evaluating wells and aquifers. In 1995, the Illinois State Water Survey became a division of the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

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