Theodore “Ted” Brown, the founding director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, died Tuesday, March 24, 2026. He was 97 years old.

In the fall of 1956, a 28-year-old Brown stepped onto the Illinois campus as a chemistry fellow, his first semester a preface to what would become a 37-year career.

Curious by nature and a chemist by training, Brown earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1956, became an instructor at Illinois the same year, and was promoted to assistant professor with tenure at the Illinois Department of Chemistry in 1958. He was intrigued by the complexities of inorganic chemical reactions: how they worked, the mechanisms that drove them and the factors that sped them up or slowed them down.

Brown, the visionary: the birth of the Beckman Institute

In the late 1980s, when a dusty baseball field occupied the Beckman Institute’s current site, Brown championed the newfangled notion of a physical space to transcend the traditional boundaries of academia. He believed that researchers from different disciplines should pool their knowledge to solve problems more effectively — and more creatively — than they could do alone.    

In 1983, as university administrators brainstormed new strategies to attract private support, Ted became the leader in developing a proposal for an interdisciplinary science institution. Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman would go on to accept that proposal, making a record-breaking $40 million gift matched with a $10 million contribution from the state. The Beckman Institute was set in motion.

In the 1980s, Brown was both an architect of the institute’s research framework and a lively participant in the building’s physical construction. He writes in his memoir “Bridging Divides: The Origins of the Beckman Institute at Illinois”: “For many years I virtually lived and breathed the Beckman project.”

And rightly so: in 1987, Brown assumed the institute’s inaugural directorship, a position he held until his retirement from the university in 1993.

Even at 80, Brown did not curb his devotion to the Beckman Institute. For the next 16 years, he stewarded its research and resources as a member of the Board of Directors of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

Brown, the scientist: a pioneer in inorganic chemistry                                                       

Among many contributions to the field, Brown’s research group in the Department of Chemistry was the first to discover and document intermolecular exchange dynamics in main group organometallics — chemical compounds where organic carbon atoms bond to a metal. Today, chemists still rely on Brown’s chemical research to create pharmaceuticals.

His literary contributions include “Chemistry: The Central Science,” which was originally published in 1977 and is now in its 15th edition. He was also the subject editor for chemistry in the “New Scribner’s Dictionary of Scientific Biography.”

"As an undergraduate here at The U. of I., I knew of Ted Brown — that he was an inorganic chemist — but I never had him in a class or met him in person. Years later I became his coauthor with ‘Chemistry: The Central Science,’ starting in the 10th edition. Ted impressed me with his encyclopedic knowledge, his clarity of thought, his common sense and his humanity,” said Cathy Murphy, head of the chemistry department and former interim director of the Beckman Institute.

“Always at the forefront of his mind was, ‘How can we help the student get excited about and learn chemistry?’” she said. “For the remaining coauthors (Gene LeMay, Bruce Bursten, Patrick Woodward, and Matt Stoltzfus) these are the words we will live by to continue Ted's legacy."

Brown’s legacy lives on through the 70 Ph.D. students and almost 30 postdocs he mentored during his time in the Department of Chemistry. He also held several administrative positions dedicated to the university’s diverse student body, including dean of the Graduate College and the vice chancellor for research from 1980-1986, as well as interim vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1992-1993. At the Beckman Institute, he helped establish the Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowship Program, which enables an annual cohort of graduate students to pursue interdisciplinary research projects.

“Brown’s work in the 1960s and 1970s was groundbreaking and is still relevant today,” said Jeff Moore, a close friend of Brown’s who shares his titles of chemist and former Beckman director. “As a researcher, educator and administrator, he was years ahead of everyone.”

Brown, the thought leader: a life of learning across disciplines

As Brown observed in “Bridging Divides,” students often “proved to be less invested in sticking to familiar ways than the faculty were.” This model proved to be decidedly untrue for Brown himself, who, in his later research years, broadened his chemistry portfolio to include language, cognition, philosophy and the social and environmental sciences.

His expanded interests formed the basis for several books, including: “Energy and the Environment,” published in 1971; “Making Truth: Metaphor in Science,” published in 2003; and “Imperfect Oracle: The Epistemic and Moral Authority of Science,” published in 2009. In 2018, he even wrote a historical fiction novel set in the 20th-century American Midwest.

Protecting our natural world was of particular importance to Brown in the latter years of his research career, where he engaged in a science-based discussion of climate change on his blog, “scienceoracle.”

“Ted believed that our world and its environment are in a delicate balance with our energy consumption, and that a sustainable future depends on our mindfully managing this relationship,” Moore said.

The environment was the centerpiece of Brown’s 90th birthday in 2018, which he celebrated with a research symposium at the Beckman Institute where chemists, atmospheric scientists, plant biologists and soil scientists gathered to brainstorm climate change and sustainable energy solutions.

“Whether he occupied the role of investigator or learner, Brown always advocated for team science across disciplines. He never needed the ‘Eureka!’ moment or to be the center of attention. Humility is the mark of an impactful leader and an effective collaborator, and I am honored to have known Ted to be both,” Moore said.

Brown’s collaborative spirit persists through Beckman traditions, two of which pair his name with that of his long-time partner and visionary counterpart, Arnold Beckman: the Beckman-Brown Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship and the annual Beckman-Brown Lecture on Interdisciplinary Science. A $5 million gift from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation helped establish both programs in 2015. In 2024, a 95-year-old Brown hosted the event, which featured former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

“Ted’s return to the Beckman Institute to host Dr. Chu’s lecture was absolutely inspiring,” said Steve Maren, the current director of the Beckman Institute and an Illinois alumnus. “Not only did the visit speak to his deep and decades-long commitment to the institute, but also his genuine interest in the science that Dr. Chu shared with the community. Ted will always be known as the driving force that created the Beckman Institute. His legacy will never be forgotten.”

Ted Brown also championed the 2025 renovation of the Beckman Café. He made a substantial financial gift to the project and encouraged others to do so, as well. When it reopened in September 2025, Ted’s Café was named in his honor.

A man of many callings, Brown may well be remembered through as many lenses as people with whom he interacted. Scientist and philosopher, chemist and linguist, mentor and author, administrator and visionary — each in its own way appropriate, and each uniquely shaped by Brown’s lifelong willingness to learn, grow, and live to serve a brighter future. His legacy as a visionary, scientist and thought leader is lodged in the foundations of the University of Illinois; his vision endures in the hearts and minds of those with whom he collaborated.

Select publications

• “Chemistry: The Central Science,” coauthor (1977)

• “Making Truth: Metaphor in Science” (2003)

• “Imperfect Oracle: The Authority and Moral Authority of Science in Society” (2009)

• “Building Bridges: The Origins of the Beckman Institute at Illinois” (2009)

• “New Scribner’s Dictionary for Scientific Biography,” subject editor

• “The Beauty of their Dreams” (2018)

Select honors and awards

• 2010: Fellow, American Chemical Society

• 2003-2005: co-chaired a National Academies committee under the auspices of the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research

• 1996-2004: ACS Governing Board for Publishing

• 1993: American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry

• 1993: Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

• 1991-1996: American Chemical Society Governing Board for Chemical Abstracts Services

• 1989-1994: Member of the National Academies Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable

• 1985-86: President of the Association of Graduate Schools of the AAU universities

• 1979-1980: Guggenheim Fellow

• 1972: American Chemical Society Award for Research in Inorganic Chemistry

• 1965-1966: National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University

• 1962-1966: Alfred P. Sloan Fellow