Biology at The University of Texas at Austin traces back to the very beginnings of the University. The first PhD ever awarded at Texas was given to Carl G. Hartman, a student in the School of Zoology, on June 8, 1915. In the 1916 edition of the Cactus Yearbook, we can read of Hartman's graduation that "as he mounted the steps to the platform, the entire body of graduates rose and gave him an ovation." In the more than a century since Hartman's graduation, there has been tremendous growth and change in biology at The University of Texas.
Writer Nicole Elmer laid out this history in detail in a series of researched articles for the department.
History of Biology at UT
History Overview of the Department of Integrative Biology
The University of Texas at Austin has a storied and long history of leadership in biology.
The Old Main Building, original home of the School of Biology, and later of the Schools of Botany and of Zoology, was torn down in 1934.
Reclaiming a Lost Piece of UT Science History Linked to a Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize-Winning Geneticist Hermann J. Muller did his research on the UT campus.
Hermann Joseph Muller's Nobel Prize display in Moffett Building 2016. In 1927, he used this X-ray machine to show that x-rays cause inherited genetic changes. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1946.
Celebrating UT Austin’s First Black Graduate Degree-Holders in Zoology
Making discoveries about health and the natural world were among Oscar Thompson’s and Exalton Delco’s achievements.
