The need for a more chemically oriented sort of biology became apparent to the University during the 1950s, as the spectacular successes of biochemistry and molecular biology in explaining life's mysteries achieved general acknowledgment. A committee of biology and chemistry faculty members formulated a plan for bringing biochemists to Princeton, to be members of either department and to be housed in the new Moffett Laboratory and in Frick Chemical Laboratory. The first appointees were Jacques R. Fresco in 1960 (chemistry) and Arthur B. Pardee in 1961 (biology), a member of the Princeton faculty until 1975, when he accepted appointment as professor in the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute of the Harvard Medical School.
The program has grown in numbers of both faculty and students; in 1974 there were about 12 faculty, and a student-faculty ratio considerably above the University average. Teaching has also been stressed at the graduate level; research and work with postdoctoral fellows has been extensive, with grants for sponsored research amounting to $1.4 million. Noteworthy events in the growth of the program were the construction in 1964 of a new wing of Frick Laboratory -- half for biochemical sciences -- and the achievement of departmental status in 1970. Chairmen have been Arthur B. Pardee (1961-1967), Charles Gilvarg (1967-1973), Bruce M. Alberts (1973-1974), and Jacques R. Fresco (1974- ).
In 1977, work was started on the construction of a new building (on William Street, adjacent to Frick) designed not only to provide much needed additional space and modern biochemical laboratories but also to permit the consolidation of all of the department's activities. Arthur B. Pardee