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.
Held by Kenneth D. Karlin
KENNETH D. KARLIN, the Ira Remsen Professor of Chemistry, joined the Hopkins faculty in 1990. He is editor of the annual review series Progress in Inorganic Chemistry and serves on the editorial boards of several other scientific journals. Dr. Karlin works in inorganic and bio-inorganic chemistry, and he has edited three monographs on copper inorganic and bio-inorganic chemistry. His research focuses on synthetic models for copper- and iron-containing metalloproteins, in particular those interacting with molecular oxygen or nitric oxide. Complementary interests include metal-catalyzed oxidation of organics, electron transfer, and reduction of nitrogen oxides, the last having important biological and environmental impact. In 2009, Dr. Karlin was honored by the American Chemical Society with the F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry.