The teaching of Chemistry at the Spanish University in the nineteenth century

Abstract

Except for some loose attempts without any continuity, the actual beginning of the teaching of chemistry at the Spanish university must be associated to the establishment of the University of Madrid, in 1836. The first chairs of this branch were incorporated into the framework of the philosophical studies and were designed to contribute useful data to other careers considered at that time of a higher rank. The introduction of chemistry as a special subject in the Faculty of Philosophy, dates back to the implementation of the education plan known as «Pidal Plan». The present article analyzes the circumstances of that introduction until the incorporation of the subject into a specific branch of the Faculty of Sciences, as ruled by the Moyanno Act of 1857.