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History of the Institute of Chemistry

The Institute of Chemistry of Ireland is fortunate in having records of all its meetings dating back to the very first meeting which was held on 15 May 1922. These earliest meetings resulted in the formation of the Chemical Association of Ireland on 15 June 1923 and the Association remained very active until 1930. In all, about 40 chemists became associated with this first Association.

Several inactive years followed, but on 14 March 1936 its successor, the Irish Chemical Association, was founded after several preliminary meetings in 1935 and 1936. This Association was even more active than its predecessor and in the period of 14 years from 1936 to 1950, up to 300 chemists were enrolled as members.

Towards the end of the forties, it became clear that the Association had to change once again as a step towards achieving government recognition. A series of meetings eventually resulted in the formation of the present Institute of Chemistry of Ireland which was founded on 18 January 1950. Currently, the Institute has over 800 members in all categories.