In 1926, Carothers moved to Harvard University. Again he was an instructor in organic chemistry. James B. Conant, who became President of Harvard College in 1933, said of Carothers: In his research, Dr. Carothers showed even at this time the high degree of originality which marked his later work. He was never content to follow the beaten path or to accept the usual interpretations of organic reactions. His first thinking about polymerization and the structure of substances of high molecular weight began while he was at Harvard.