Constructing a Pedagogical Space for Pure Chemistry

Abstract

The establishment of the Imperial University in Tokyo in 1886 changed the academic landscape of chemistry in Japan.¹ The Department of Pure Chemistry of the Faculty of Science of Tokyo University became the Department of Chemistry of the College of Science of the Imperial University under the leadership of Sakurai Jōji, who was appointed its head.² The Department of Applied Chemistry of the Faculty of Industrial Arts, under the leadership of Takamatsu and Matsui, merged with the Department of Practical Chemistry at the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo to form a Department of Applied Chemistry of the College of Engineering at the new university. Equally important was the move of Edward Divers (with his assistant Haga Tamemasa) from the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo to the College of Science, not to the College of Engineering.