About the Department

The Department of Chemistry of Universität Hamburg is one of the largest chemistry departments in the Federal Republic of Germany and one of the key state training and research centers for chemistry in northern Germany. We offer degree programs in chemistry, food chemistry, pharmaceutics, molecular life sciences, and nanosciences as well as teacher training in chemistry and vocational education teacher training in health sciences, cosmetic science, food and domestic science, and chemical engineering. In the field of research, we are part of the Cluster of Excellence Center for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI) and have numerous core research areas.

The Department of Chemistry evolved from the Chemisches Staatsinstitut (state institute for chemistry). The Chemisches Staatsinstitut succeeded the Chemisches Staatslaboratorium (chemical state laboratory), which was originally the Akademisches Gymnasium (academic gymnasium). Accordingly, the Department of Chemistry can look back on nearly 400 years full of scientific discoveries.