The Eberly College of Science is the science college of Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1859 by Jacob S. Whitman, professor of natural science

Natural science

The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...

. The College offers baccalaureate, masters

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

, and doctoral degree programs in the basic sciences.

Daniel J. Larson became the school’s dean in 1998.

Academics

Seven academic departments from the biological, mathematical, and physical sciences comprise the college, including Astronomy and Astrophysics, Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics. In addition, the Eberly College of Science participates in interdisciplinary programs as well, including Premedicine, Forensic Science, and a Science BS/MBA.

Faculty and Alumni

Current Eberly faculty members include seven members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

, considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a U.S. scientist, and three members of the British Royal Society. Eberly faculty members were the first to: "see" an atom (physicist Erwin Mueller

Erwin Wilhelm Müller

Erwin Wilhelm Müller was a German physicist who invented the Field Emission Electron Microscope , the Field Ion Microscope , and the Atom-Probe Field Ion Microscope...

); discover practical synthesis

Organic synthesis

Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely inorganic compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has...

 of the pregnancy hormone progesterone

Progesterone

Progesterone also known as P4 is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis of humans and other species...

 (chemist Russell Marker

Russell Marker

Russell Earl Marker was an American chemist who invented the octane rating system when he was working at the Ethyl Corporation. Later in his career, he went on to found a steroid industry in Mexico when he successfully made synthetic progesterone from chemical constituents found in Mexican yams...

); and discover planets outside our solar system

Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

 (astronomer Alex Wolszczan). University researchers also designed the world's largest optical telescope, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Hobby-Eberly Telescope

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is a 9.2-meter aperture telescope located at the McDonald Observatory. It combines a number of features that differentiate it from most telescope designs, resulting in greatly lowered construction costs...

. College graduates include a Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

winner and three U.S. astronauts.