History
Year Establishment : 1927
The Chemistry department of the Rajaram College was started in the Rajaram High School building in 1927 and was inaugurated by Resident Lt. Col. Obroyan. Dr. Balkrushna was the Principal of College and Dr. S. V. Shah was Head of the Department. Due to increased student strength in the Science wing Chemistry department was shifted to the O`Brien building in 1930. The first Batch of B. Sc. Chemistry students came out in 1932. Dr. D. N. Solanki, a distinguished Scientist, is a student of this batch. He obtained his Ph. D. from Banaras Hindu University. In 1940, Dr. D. N. Solanki joined the College as a Lecturer and later became Head of the Department of Chemistry from 1947-1962. He developed the research section of the Chemistry department. In 1964, the department was shifted to the present premises. Some of the eminent teachers are Prof. Dr. J. W. Airan, Prof. Y. S. Chakradev, Prof. Dr. R. N. Merchant, Prof. D. G. Pishwikar, Prof. N. V. Karekar, Prof. Dr. R. V. Shingte, Prof. Dr. N. D. Khanolkar, Prof. Dr. V. S. Darshane, Shri A. V. Rege, Shri. R. N. Joshi, Dr. S. L. Bodas, Shri. M. D. Parnandiwar, Shri Khatavkar, Dr. M. G. Marathe, and Shri V. L. Vaidya.
This is one of the largest science departments in the college. In its history of 96 years, it has grown considerably. The department conducts undergraduate and postgraduate programs. It is one of the oldest departments in the college with 08 faculty members and possesses an excellent academic reputation. The department's teaching faculty is a strong mix of experience and youth, making the teaching programs dynamic and contemporary. 06 faculty members are Ph.D.’s and 2 are pursuing their Ph.D.’s. The department has a recognized research centre for Ph.D. The department is in an independent and large building that houses two big classrooms (CLR & CLH), three spacious laboratories, and one well-equipped research laboratory with instrumentation facilities like FT-IR Spectrometer, UV-Spectrophotometer, Flame photometer, Ultrasonicate, TDS meter, Turbidity meter, Rotary evaporator etc. Laboratories are well equipped with the necessary equipment/ instruments/ infrastructure to perform experiments in Inorganic, Organic, Physical, and Analytical Chemistry. All the research students are comfortably accommodated in the research laboratories. Research in the department is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary and addresses key societal needs and college initiatives.