J.J. Sylvester Chair in Mathematics

As the Hopkins trustees debated their first steps in establishing a world-class university, President Daniel Coit Gilman commented: “Enlist a great mathematician and a distinguished Grecian. Your problem will be solved.” JAMES JOSEPH SYLVESTER, one of the foremost of British mathematicians and author of the groundbreaking theory of invariants, was soon recruited, joining Professor of Greek Basil L. Gildersleeve. While he stayed at Hopkins only seven years, Professor Sylvester had a profound effect on academia in America, having introduced the study of the higher branches of pure mathematics.

 

Ira Remsen Chair in Chemistry

IRA REMSEN, the university’s first chemistry professor, came to Hopkins in 1876. Also a medical doctor, he had a profound influence on the field of chemistry through the standard-setting texts he wrote, his editorship of the American Chemical Journal, and his former students who went on to lead chemistry departments at other U.S. universities. He is best known for his co-discovery of saccharine in 1887.

In 1901, Dr. Remsen became the second president of the university. He continued to teach chemistry as well, until he retired in 1913. He presided over Johns Hopkins during a time of transition, developing plans to move the Arts and Sciences campus from downtown Baltimore to its current location at Homewood. Prior to his death in 1927, he was honored by the American Chemical Society at the opening of Hopkins’ new chemistry building, named Remsen Hall in his honor.

Henry Walters Professorship in Biology

HENRY WALTERS was a Baltimore civic leader and the son of William T. Walters, founder of the Walters Art Gallery. This professorship, originally designated for zoology, was later redirected for a biologist, reflecting the university’s academic priorities.

One of the leading donors to the 1902 Endowment Fund Campaign, Henry Walters also played a part in the relocation of the School of Arts and Sciences from downtown Baltimore to the Homewood campus. In 1905, Mr. Walters endowed the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine at the School of Medicine, the first such program in the United States.

E. Emmet Reid Chair in Chemistry

E. EMMET REID, who served on the Hopkins chemistry faculty from 1916 until his retirement in 1936, was responsible for the synthesis of more than 75 new organic compounds. An authority on organic sulphur compounds, he is credited with the invention of tear gas. After retirement, Dr. Reid continued his research, doubling his output of published papers to achieve a lifetime total of 172 scholarly articles. He also wrote an autobiography titled My First One Hundred Years. The university awarded him an honorary degree in 1972, one year before his death at age 101.

Charles Homer Haskins Chair in History

CHARLES HOMER HASKINS, A&S 1887, 1890 (PhD), was considered the nation’s first and most important medievalist. After receiving his doctorate from Hopkins, Dr. Haskins taught at the University of Wisconsin before joining the faculty of Harvard, where he became dean and remained for the rest of his career. Dr. Haskins’ scholarship focused on Norman contributions to medieval English government and illuminated the impact of Greek and Arabic scientific materials on Western Europe. In 1947, he published a landmark book, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. During World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, A&S 1886 (PhD)–with whom he had become friends at Hopkins–appointed Dr. Haskins chief of the Western European division of the American commission to negotiate peace at the Paris Peace Conference.

CHAIRHOLDER TO BE NAMED

Bernard N. Baker Chair in Chemistry

University trustee BERNARD N. BAKER was an international expert on maritime transportation and owner of the Atlantic Transport Line. Before going into the shipping business, he had established a chemical company and then a coal-mining firm. After retirement, he became president of the Baltimore Trust and Guarantee Company. He and two other board members together gave fully half of the total $1 million raised during the 1902 Endowment Fund campaign. In recognition of Mr. Baker’s leadership and generosity, the board established this chair in his honor.

CHAIRHOLDER TO BE NAMED

Arthur Oncken Lovejoy Chair in History

ARTHUR O. LOVEJOY, professor of history at Hopkins from 1910 to 1939, is credited with the introduction of the interdisciplinary academic area known as the history of ideas. He founded the Journal of the History of Ideas and established the Hopkins History of Ideas Club. Professor Lovejoy was the first chairman of the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and his opinions often appeared in the editorial pages of The Baltimore Sun. He also was a founder of the American Association of University Professors and a strong proponent of the right of faculty members to teach unencumbered by ideological restrictions. Dr. Lovejoy continued to produce books and articles up to his death in 1962.

 

Alumni Centennial Professorship (Honorary)

In 1976, the university celebrated its 100th birthday with a year of parties, dinners, and parades, and a centennial symposium that brought scholars from all over the world to Hopkins. The century of achievement was also commemorated by the establishment of two Alumni Centennial Professorships in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Eli Kennerly Marshall Jr. Professorship in Oncology

ELI KENNERLY MARSHALL JR., A&S 1911 (PhD), Med 1917, was head of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics for more than two decades and was considered one of the most renowned pharmacologists of his time. After earning his doctorate in chemistry, he joined the medical faculty while earning his MD. Dr. Marshall was appointed to head his department when the eminent John J. Abel, after 30 years in the position, announced his wish to retire. Dr. Marshall established the first clinical pharmacology unit in the nation, was among the first to study the new sulfonamide drugs and developed two new such drugs, contributed to the development of antimalarial drugs, and devised a method for measuring cardiac output. The most outstanding discovery of his career was the demonstration of secretion by the renal tubules. He retired in 1955 and died in 1966.

William R. Brody Professorship in Radiology

WILLIAM R. BRODY, MD, PhD, was the Martin Donner Professor and Director of the Johns Hopkins Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, professor of electrical and computer engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and radiologist-in-chief from 1987 to 1994.

Dr. Brody served as the 13th President of the Johns Hopkins University from September 1996 to February 2009. During his presidency, he led Johns Hopkins to a deepened commitment to undergraduate education, diversity, the community, and research, as well as the integration of the University and Hospital/Health System to become Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Dr. Brody served as President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California from 2009 until his retirement in 2015. As a national figure, he encouraged innovation and the strengthening of the United States economy through investments in basic research and education.

Renowned for his achievements in biomedical engineering, Dr. Brody has authored more than 100 publications, holds two U.S. patents in the field of medical imaging, and has made contributions in medical acoustics, computed tomography, digital radiography, and magnetic resonance imaging. These contributions have led to his recognition by numerous national and international organizations. Dr. Brody is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the American College of Radiology, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the American Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Radiological Society of North America for his contributions to medical imaging science.

A California native, Dr. Brody received his bachelors in science and masters in science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his medical degree and PhD in electrical engineering, from Stanford University. Following post-graduate training in cardiovascular surgery and radiology at Stanford, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Brody was associate professor and then professor of radiology and electrical engineering at Stanford University from 1977 to 1986. He served as Provost of the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center from 1994 to 1996. He co-founded three medical device companies, and served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Resonex Inc. from 1984 to 1987.

Dr. Brody has served as a member of the Scientific Management Review Board of the National Institutes of Health and on the board of directors of IBM and Novartis. He is a director of Stanford Healthcare, the W.M. Keck Foundation and the Curtis Institute of Music. He formerly served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Science Board of the Food and Drug Administration, on the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Board of Stanford University, and was a trustee of the Commonwealth Fund, the Whitaker Foundation, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Dr. Brody is a private pilot holding airline transport and flight instructor ratings. He has two grown children.

Herbert Baxter Adams Professorship in History

The university’s first professor of history, HERBERT BAXTER ADAMS came to Hopkins during its first year of operation in 1876 as a teaching fellow and went on to chair the History and Political Science Department. A foremost scholar of American history, he was a leader in the creation of the American Historical Association. Dr. Adams, who was known to quietly lend money to students in need, believed that the main principle of historical training was “to encourage independent thought and research.” Among his students were Frederick Jackson Turner, A&S 1890 (PhD), who went on to become a prominent historian–the first to assert the importance of the frontier in forming the American character–and Woodrow Wilson, A&S 1886 (PhD), who became the 28th president of the United States. Dr. Adams died in 1901.