Indeed. For chemistry, for the basic knowledge you could go back quite a bit further, probably to the 1930's when quantum mechanics was applied to it. More r

Indeed. For chemistry, for the basic knowledge you could go back quite a bit further, probably to the 1930's when quantum mechanics was applied to it. More recent for some of the lab work, there are some really neat analytical toys to play with. On the other hand, anything touching on biology, including to some degree biochemistry, needs to be up to date. Very complicated systems about which we're continuing to learn major things all the time. At the other end, at least for MIT's core science requirements, physics of the 19th century are fine (mechanics and E&M).