Dr. Calvin Buehler (pronounced beeler) accepted a position at the university in 1922 in the Chemistry Department. He was named head of the department in 1940 and served in that capacity until 1962. During his term (1944), the university implemented the PhD in chemistry (authorized in 1943) for work on campus in Knoxville—the first PhD program instituted in Knoxville (the Memphis Medical Units’ School of Biological Sciences had implemented a PhD in 1928) since 1877.
In 1950 the Southern Chemist, a monthly publication of the southern section of the American Chemical Society, named Buehler the South’s outstanding chemist for his contributions to research and to chemical education in the South. He was the first to receive the annual award. He was the first head of the Southern Appalachian Science Fair and one of the founders of the East Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society. In 1963 Buehler was selected as one of the first five distinguished service professors at the university.
He was the author of Survey of Organic Synthesis (1971) and more than 40 scholarly articles. The 1970 Buehler Chemistry Addition to Dabney Hall is named for him. He retired from UT in 1967, at the compulsory retirement age of 70, and willed $1 million to the Chemistry Department, particularly for scholarships and equipment.