History

Dr. Frank J. Toole

The first professors of chemistry and natural history at UNB were James Robb who began lecturing in 1837, followed by Loring W. Bailey who started in 1861. Graduate studies in chemistry had to wait until the efforts of Dr. Karel Wiesner, who joined the Department in 1948, and the then Head of Chemistry, Dr. Frank J. Toole, a capable administrator and teacher, an active Graduate school in Chemistry was established, showing phenomenal growth in subsequent years. From the time of Dr. Wiesner's arrival until his untimely death in 1986, about 140 Ph.D. degrees were awarded in organic chemistry alone.

In 1993 a Karel Wiesner Reading Room was established in his memory. In 1973 the University named the Chemistry building in Dr. Toole's honour, and in the previous year had established a Scientific Lecture Series in his name which, to this day, continues to bring world-renowned chemists to UNB.

UNB's Chemistry Department has an outstanding reputation, both nationally and internationally, for its stellar accomplishments in research, for its acclaimed graduate, and nationally accredited undergraduate degree programs. Many of our faculty members have received prestigious awards for research and teaching.
The impact of their research has led to four of our faculty being placed in the world's top 1% of chemists most cited in scientific papers.