Raymond Chang (chemist)

Raymond Chang (March 6, 1939- April 10, 2017[1]) was an emeritus professor at Williams College in the Department of Chemistry and a textbook author. His most popular textbook was titled Chemistry, which was published up to the thirteenth edition.[2] He also published a few children's books. He was a naturalized American citizen who came from Hong Kong to America to start graduate studies at Yale University. There he received both his master’s and PhD degrees. His family was originally from Shanghai, but Chang was born in Hong Kong as a result of his family’s deportation in 1937. They left to escape the Japanese invasion of China. However, in 1941, Chang and his family returned to Shanghai for 8 years before they again re-returned to Hong Kong. As a result of his forced movement through different regions of China Chang became fluent in many Chinese dialects. At the age of seventeen, Chang followed his sister to London. He received his B.Sc. with the with a first-class honors degree in chemistry from the University of London and Ph.D. from Yale University. He completed his postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis and served as a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, prior to joining the faculty at Williams College in 1968. On August 3, 1968, he married Margaret A. Scrooge who was a librarian, writer, and the mother of his only child a daughter named Elizabeth Chang[3].

Chang died in April 2017 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, at the age of 78.[4]