George Mann Richardson

(1863–1902)

Professor of Organic Chemistry

PhD, Johns Hopkins University (1890)

AC, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania

George Mann Richardson served on the Stanford Department of Chemistry faculty from shortly after its inception in 1891 until his early death in 1902. Reproductions of his undergraduate lab manual, Laboratory Manual and Principles of Chemistry for Beginners, can still be found for sale online. In his 1901 commencement address, The Gospel of Work, Professor Richardson makes a wry distinction between “educated” and “uneducated” college graduates, and the value of working toward learning and progress.

Professor Richardson was born in 1863. He completed undergraduate studies at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania (AC) and doctoral study at Johns Hopkins University (PhD 1890). After a year an instructor of analytical and organic chemistry at Lehigh, he accepted a post as associate professor at Stanford University. He rose to full professor in 1894.