In the first half of the last century, the development of industry increasingly required well-educated specialists in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering and engineering sciences in general. The first educational institution of this kind in Hungary was the secondary level József Ipartanoda, founded in 1846. Today's BME emerged from this school. In the beginning, it was possible to obtain degrees in technical, economic and agricultural fields at Ipartanoda. Among the six starting departments was the Department of Chemistry, the first professor of which was appointed doctor Károly Nendtvich, assistant professor of the chemistry department of the University of Pest (1847). Differently other chemistry departments operating in Hungary at that time, they taught in Hungarian, but only until the fall of the 1848-49 War of Independence. They started teaching temporarily in the building of the University, then they rented premises in Buda Castle. In 1856, Ferenc József raised Ipartanoda to the rank of Polytechnic, and from 1860, education was again conducted in Hungarian. In 1867, after the compromise, the Polytechnic was raised to university status and was named the József Technical University.
1907-ig a diákok vegyészi, majd ezt követően vegyészmérnöki oklevelet kaptak. Az első vegyészi oklevelet Albert Grittner kapta 1884-ben.

After Károly Nendtvich, Lajos Ilosvay took over the post of head of the Chemistry Department of József University of Technology in 1882, who then held this position for 52 years (!). As a professor at the University of Technology in 1900, he gave the following lectures: general chemistry in the first semester of the first year for 5 hours a week. This presentation was not only required for chemists, but for all freshmen in all engineering departments in the university. He gave lectures on organic chemistry two hours a week in the first semester of the second year and 5 hours a week in the second semester. Students listened to theoretical chemistry lectures for 2 hours a week in the second semester of the second year, and participated in analytical chemistry laboratory exercises for 13 hours a week, over two semesters. The Department of Chemistry was first replaced (in 1871) by the Department of Chemical Technology, then in 1911 by the Department of Organic Chemistry, and finally in 1921 by the Department of Inorganic Chemistry. The original department was named the Department of General Chemistry. This department was entrusted with the conduct of laboratory exercises for chemical engineers, as well as the chemical education of all students of the University of Technology.

For a short period in 1934, the department was merged with the Department of Chemistry of the Veterinary University. The head of the combined department was Gyula Gróh, professor of chemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, but Jenő Plank was the head of the General Chemistry Department of the University of Applied Sciences in practice. Jenő Plank was an associate professor from 1928, and was appointed professor in 1940, when the Department became independent again. Jenő Plank was followed by László Erdey (1950-1970). During this period, the number of students increased significantly throughout the country. Accordingly, the number of teaching staff increased, and the Department of General Chemistry began to develop in terms of its equipment. The former number of 3-5 teachers increased to 20-30 in the following decade. The field of activity also continued to expand. In addition to teaching, the department was also required to do research. For this purpose, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which in this period became the main organizer and controller of scientific research and practically fulfilled the role of the ministry of research, created the Analytical Chemistry Research Group within the department. During this period, fundamental changes took place in the field of science around the world. Classical methods were gradually replaced by instrumental methods. The main research areas at that time were titrimetry, organic chemical analysis, spectrography, thermal analysis, ion exchangers and radiochemistry. In 1966, a part of the department became independent as the Department of Applied Chemistry and took over the education of non-chemical engineering students. The parent institution took on the name of the Department of General and Analytical Chemistry.

In 1970, Ernő Pungor took over the management of the department. His theoretical and experimental results in the field of ion-selective electrodes are of outstanding importance in his work. While previously there was only one professor in the department who led the department until he retired, after 1975 several professors could work at the same place, so the position of head of the department was for a period of 5 years, after which you had to apply again. The position of head of department was temporarily taken over by Sándor Gál (technical analytical chemistry) in 1990, István Hargittai (structural chemistry) in 1991, and György Pokol (thermochemistry and solid-state chemistry) in 1996. Current department head Dr. György Horvai's (2005-) research areas are ion-selective electrodes; computer modeling of liquid-membrane interface; automation in analytics and pharmacokinetics; development of molecularly imprinted polymers and chemometrics.

The high-level research carried out at the department is reflected by our past and present academics:

• Dr. Nendtvich Károly, 1845. az MTA levelező tagja, 1858. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Ilosvay Lajos, 1891. az MTA levelező tagja, 1905. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Erdey László, 1951. az MTA levelező tagja, 1955. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Pungor Ernő, 1967. az MTA levelező tagja, 1976. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Hargittai István , 1987. az MTA levelező tagja, 1993. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Gál Sándor, 1993. az MTA levelező tagja, 2004. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Szabadváry Ferenc, 1995. az MTA levelező tagja
• Dr. Tóth Klára, 1995. az MTA levelező tagja, 2001. az MTA rendes tagja
• Dr. Horvai György, 2007. az MTA levelező tagja
• Dr. Nyulászi László, 2019. az MTA levelező tagja

The department appointed several deans and deputy deans to the Faculty:
Dékánok:

• 1950 – 52 Dr. Erdey László
• 1972 – 81 Dr. Pungor Ernő
• 1988 – 96 Dr. Gál Sándor
• 2003- Dr. Pokol György

Dékánhelyettesek:

• Dr. Meisel Tibor
• Dr. Gál Sándor
• Dr. Pokol György

Szabadváry Ferenc: 150 éves a BME Általános és Analitikai Kémiai Tanszéke;
Magyar Kémikusok Lapja, 1998. 53(8-9). 404-407. nyomán