Raymond Chang (March 6, 1939 – April 10, 2017) was an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

in the Department of

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and a textbook author. His most popular textbook was titled ''Chemistry,'' which was published up to the thirteenth edition. He also published a few children's books. He was a naturalized American citizen who came from Hong Kong to America to start graduate studies at Yale University. There he received both his master's and PhD degrees. His family was originally from Shanghai, but Chang was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

as a result of his family's deportation in 1937. They left to escape the Japanese invasion of China. However, in 1941, Chang and his family returned to Shanghai for eight years before they again re-returned to Hong Kong. As a result of his forced movement through different regions of China Chang became fluent in many Chinese dialects. At the age of seventeen, Chang followed his sister to London. He received his B.Sc. with a first-class honors degree in chemistry from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and Ph. D. from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He completed his postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis and served as a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, prior to joining the faculty at Williams College in 1968. On August 3, 1968, he married Margaret A. Scrogin. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Chang. Chang died in April 2017 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, at the age of 78.

Career

Chang's history was very rich and varied. In 1966, he began his career as a postdoctoral research fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. After that, he became an assistant professor of chemistry at Hunter College part of City University of New York, in New York City. Chang distinguished himself between 1968 and 1973, as he was the only Asian American who worked at Williams College in that time. Subsequently, from 1978 to 1989 he worked as professor of chemistry at Halford R. Clark Professor of Natural Sciences. By 1993 he went on to chair the department for two years. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, Chang worked as a visiting scientist at various schools, including the University of California, where he worked in the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and the Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics. He also held positions at Stanford University,

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

, and on the Olympiad Examinations Task Force. He was a member of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

, where he contributed to the examination committees for

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

and general chemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Chang contributed numerous articles to chemistry journals, and he was a member of the editorial board of Chemical Educator. He also authored or contributed to instructor's manuals, workbooks, and study guides that accompanied his chemistry texts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chang, Raymond 1939 births 2017 deaths Williams College faculty Alumni of the University of London Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Hunter College faculty American people of Chinese descent Washington University in St. Louis fellows