History

About the chemistry subject

At Lund University, the chemistry subject originally belonged to the Faculty of Medicine. In 1798, it was transferred to the Faculty of Philosophy and entrusted to Anders Jahan Retzius, who was already responsible for botany, zoology, and physics.

With Professor C. W. Blomstrand, Lund gained an internationally well-known chemist. During the 20th century, chemistry was established. By the mid-1960s, there were professorships in the five classical branches of chemistry. A significant expansion occurred between 1965-1970 with the establishment of The Faculty of Engineering, LTH and its chemistry section.

Initially housed with physics and zoology in the building that now houses the Historical museum in Lund, chemistry moved in 1862 to its first dedicated laboratory on Magle Stora Kyrkogata. The expansion of the subject led to a move to Helgonavägen in 1937. By 1968, all branches of chemistry were gathered at Kemicentrum. Kemicentrum was previously a separate department of chemistry at Lund University, but since 2003 the subject of chemistry has been divided between several departments.

Today, the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Process and Life Science Engineering are active at Kemicentrum.