Chemistry

What Is the Chemistry Degree?

The Best Colleges and Universities for Chemistry Degrees

To view the entire list of top chemistry schools, including schools offering online degrees and a breakdown of the best chemistry colleges and universities in your state, visit our look at the Best Colleges and Universities for Chemistry Degrees.

For a dynamic, real-time listing of the most influential chemistry schools in the world, use our Custom College Ranking.

Chemistry Degrees

What Will I Study in a Chemistry Major?

As a chemistry major, you’ll study foundational topics such as biochemistry, organic chemistry, and inorganic chemistry. You will likely also take courses in correlated areas like thermodynamics, physics, and materials sciences, as well as math-intensive courses like calculus and differential equations.

What Can I Do With a Degree in Chemistry?

Chemistry majors are employed in a huge range of industries and areas, including private sector corporations, research labs, universities, and the federal government. Fields of employment for chemistry majors may include engineering, medical science, pharmacology, environmental science, food science, and forensics, among many others. Students who earn a degree in chemistry will qualify to work in roles as chemical engineers, biophysicists, chemists, environmental scientists, food scientists, and much more.

How Can I Get a Degree in Chemistry?

Find out How to Major in Chemistry.

Find out what you can do with a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.

If you’re still unsure about a college major, our guide to college majors and programs can help you figure out what to study in college. This comprehensive guide is a central place to explore all college subjects.

Controversial Topics in Chemistry

The chemistry discipline plays a direct role in many of the technological achievements and environmental conditions that shape the world around us. As a result, many of the mostly debated issues of our times involve this important scientific field. Below are some of the biggest controversies today relating to the chemistry discipline.

1. Nuclear Energy
2. Climate Change
3. Vaccines
4. COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Higher Education

For an ever-growing list of controversial topics, check out The Most Controversial Topics Today

Feature Topics in Chemistry

Chemistry is a dynamic field where new findings, achievements and innovations continue to have a profound impact on the real world. Our features emphasize the individuals and innovations driving the chemistry discipline forward today.

• Top Women in STEM

Who Are the Current Top Chemists?

The following are the top influencers in the chemistry discipline today according to our machine-powered Influence Rankings, which are drawn from a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia/data, Crossref, and an ever-growing body of data.

• Carolyn Bertozzi is the founder of bioorthogonal chemistry, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• Eric Scerri is a Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Foundations of Chemistry.
• Ada Yonath is a crystallographer and Director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
• Jean-Pierre Sauvage is Director Emeritus of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Strasbourg, France and his work focuses on a subfield called “supramolecular chemistry.”
• Fraser Stoddart is Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States, Head of the Stoddart Mechanostereochemistry Group in the Department of Chemistry, and a leading researcher in supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology.
• Paul Anastas is Director of Yale University’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and is known as the “Father of Green Chemistry.”
• Omar M. Yaghi is the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and is widely considered the pioneer of reticular chemistry.
• George C. Schatz is a theoretical chemist, editor-in-chief at the Journal of Physical Chemistry, and the Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University.
• George M. Whitesides is Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University, focuses on organic chemistry, and has performed core research using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
• Harry B. Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology and conducts research on topics in inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics.

For a complete list, check out the Top Influential Chemists Today.

Interviews with Top Thinkers in Chemistry

• Dr. Eric Scerri discusses whether chemistry is different from physics, who really developed the periodic table, and the need for students to follow their passions in our interview, Is chemistry just physics.
• Dr. Eric Scerri discusses the nature of science and the philosophy of chemistry in our interview, How philosophy and chemistry combine.
• Dr. Paul Anastas discusses thinking holistically about technological innovation, elegance and beauty as elements within scientific development, and green chemistry in our interview, How green chemistry encourages beautiful, elegant science.
• Dr. Harry Gray discusses the rivalry between physicists and chemists, problems in charge calculations, Arnold Beckman, and much more in our interview, How brilliant innovators propel the field of chemistry.
• Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr. Robert Curl discusses to talk about lucky accidents in chemistry, his discovery of the buckminsterfullerene, his “wrong number” Nobel Prize phone call and so much more in our interview, Discovery, history, and lucky accidents in chemistry.
• Dr. Thomas Maschmeyer discusses self-rejuvenating battery, ways to recover hydrocarbons from plastics, and how Australia manages energy in our interview, How chemistry advances battery, energy, and reuse technology.
• Dr. James Tour discusses his Christian faith, the importance of living authentically, ways that students should conduct themselves both personally and professionally, and much more in our interview, Chemistry and Christianity.