Phi Lambda Upsilon National Honorary Chemical Society (ΦΛΥ) was founded in 1899 at the Noyes Laboratory of the University of Illinois.

[1] The aims and purposes of the Society are summarized in its constitution – the promotion of high scholarship and original investigation in all branches of pure and applied chemistry.

Five more chapters were chartered prior to 29 June 1911, the date of the convention at Indianapolis at which the national society was organized and the second period reached its culmination.

Membership includes exceptional students of pure and applied chemistry selected from the junior, senior, or graduate classes, and also from well qualified members of faculties, staffs, as well as from selected post-doctoral students engaged in chemical endeavors in affiliation with qualified institutions of higher learning.

[1] The executive committee meets triennially with delegates from local chapters nationwide every 3 years to discuss the business of PLU and to elect the national officers for the next triennium.