On November 11, 1960 construction began on the Chemistry-Physics
building. The current site of the
building once was occupied the by President’s garden and tennis courts. Physics once occupied 33,600 square feet of
Pence Hall and Chemistry 41,500 in Kastle Hall and an addition 3,600 square
feet in an old wooden barracks. The new
Chemistry-Physics building provided three times the space for the two
departments.
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| Clearing the way for science, 1960 |
The building was also outfitted for numerous special
research facilities. The silo at the
northeast corner of the building was designed to house a 5.5 million volt Van
de Graff electrostatic nuclear accelerator. It has an internal diameter of 30 feet, it
rises 58 feet above the ground and extends below ground for 13 feet. The concrete walls are two feet thick and two
underground laboratories are connected to the silo.
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Construction of the physics "silo" that holds the
Van de Graff nuclear accelerator, 1961
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The Chemistry-Physics building was completed in April 1963
at a total cost of $6,084,076. It has
four floors and a basement for a total of 244,000 square feet. The facilities were built for Physics to have:
two lecture halls with 200 seats each; eight classrooms with 40 seats each; 20
faculty offices; 7 faculty office/laboratories; and labs for graduate and
professional research. For Chemistry to
have: a 270 seat lecture room; 200 seat seminar room; 3 smaller lecture rooms
with 150 seats each; 9 classrooms with 49 seats each; 15 instructional labs accommodating
48 students each; 12 faculty offices; and 15 faculty office/laboratories. The total space accommodated 4,800 students. The central library was built to house 50,000
volumes with 90 seats.
Housing physics and chemistry together was meant to assure
greater capabilities for both departments at a time when it was becoming clear
that the basic sciences were interdependent.
When the building was opened the Chemistry department employed a
full-time glassblower while the Physics department had an instrument shop under
supervision of a machinist and each was able to draw upon the resources of the
other.
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John French, Glassblower, 1963
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