The University created a Chair of Chemistry for Giovanni Francisco Vigani in 1702. It was subsequently renamed as follows: Professorship of Organic Chemistry 1944-92, BP 1702 Professorship of Organic Chemistry 1992-2019 and Yusuf Hamied 1702 Professorship of Chemistry from 2019. Successive professors from 1702 lectured and demonstrated before the University, but formal study of the subject at undergraduate level did not enter the curriculum until the establishment of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1851.

The professor was given an official lecture room, shared with the Professor of Anatomy, in the newly vacated printing house on Queens' Lane between 1716 and 1786. In that year he moved into a new building in the Botanic Garden, shared with the Jacksonian Professor of Natural (Experimental) Philosophy and the Professor of Botany. The site of the Botanic Garden was steadily developed from the mid-nineteenth century onwards as the 'New Museums site' for the study of sciences of all kinds. A purpose-built Chemistry laboratory fronting Free School Lane, Downing Street and Pembroke Street was completed in 1888 and twice extended in the 1920s. In 1958, the Department moved to new, spacious accommodation on Lensfield Road.

In 2001, it was decided that the upcoming 300th anniversary of the 1702 chair offered an opportunity for both a celebratory historical symposium and the identification of source material for departmental history. Dr C. Haley, departmental archivist/historian 2001-3, was tasked with organising the symposium (called Chem@300) and editing the papers presented into a volume for publication, as well as assembling archival records, locating historical objects, researching biographies of chair holders, and conducting oral history recordings with major figures in the field. In the old projection room off lecture theatre 1, he assembled institutional records and objects from current and former members of academic and administrative staff and students, alongside written and oral memoirs. The proposal that material collected be curated onsite as an archive and museum was not ultimately pursued. Departmental staff including Pete Wothers and Brian Crysell added to the records in the archive and objects room in the 20 years following Dr Haley’s departure. Between December 2023 and February 2024, institutional records, memoirs and oral history recordings assembled by Dr Haley were appraised for adding to the University Archives and transferred to the University Library. Objects remained with the department.

For historical information, see the following printed sources: W.H. Mills, 'Schools of Chemistry in Great Britain and Ireland, 6: the University of Cambridge', Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 77 (1953), pp.423-31, 467-73 [ULC classmark P360.c.230.30]; John Read, Humour and humanism in Chemistry (G. Bell and Sons Ltd.; London, 1947) pp.284-300 [ULC classmark 360:13.c.90.7]; U.R. Evans and W.C. Lister, 'Memories of the Chemical Laboratory' in ACUA Review 1954, pp.30-4 [University Archives classmark ACUA 24); A.J. Berry and E.A. Moelwyn-Hughes 'Chemistry at Cambridge from 1901 to 1910', Proceedings of the Chemical Society, Dec. 1963 [order from University Library Strage Facility]; Mary D. Archer and Christopher D. Haley (eds.), The Vigani Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge: transformation and change (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005) [ULC classmark: Cam.c.2005.2].