History of Chemistry Buildings at Cornell University & Their Names

The Cornell Chemistry Department was first located in the poorly lit and ventilated basement of Morrill Hall.?Morrill Hall was built in?1868 (the first building on 美国康奈尔大学 's campus).

Often forgotten about, Wooden Laboratory (1870-1883) was a temporary wooden-frame building that served as the Department of Chemistry and Physics for 12 years. It was erected on the site where the north wing of Goldwin Smith Hall now stands.

Franklin Hall (Today Olive Tjaden Hall) - This building housed chemistry and physics when it opened in 1883.?

Morse Hall was constructed in 1889 to house the Department of Chemistry and was the department's home until 1923. Unfortunately due to a fire, the upper two stories and most of the basement were destroyed in 1916, but part of the building was still usable.

The remains of Morse Hall were turned into an Art Gallery and finally torn down in 1954. Eventually, this site was occupied by the Johnson Art Museum, built in 1973.

Construction started in 1921 to replace Morse Hall, and Baker Laboratory opened in 1923. It was one of the first postwar projects on campus. Today, Baker is beautifully connected to the new Physical Science Building (PSB).

Often not talked about; however, a great amount of research is done in Chemical Engineering. The Chemical Engineering Building, Olin Hall, was constructed in 1967.

Names Behind the Buildings

Morrill Hall - Named after US Representative from Vermont Justin Smith Morrill, the hall commemorated the Morrill Act of 1862, which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

Wooden Laboratory - Unknown in my research; if you do know, please comment.

Franklin Hall - Named after Benjamin Franklin.

Morse Hall - Named after?Samuel Morse, was the inventor of the telegraph. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph and worked with Ezra Cornell to build telegraph lines.

To highlight more about Ezra Cornell, before Cornell University, he founded Western Union . Furthermore, Cornell made his fortune in the telegraph business as an associate of Samuel Morse. He constructed and strung the poles for the?Baltimore–Washington telegraph line, the first telegraph line of substance in the United States.

Baker Laboratory - Named after George F. Baker, he was a financier?and?philanthropist. He was the "Dean of American Banking" and was known for his taciturnity. Baker made a fortune after the?Civil War?in railroads and banking and was estimated to be the third-richest man in the United States at his death, after?Henry Ford?and?John D. Rockefeller.

Baker donated $2 million to?Cornell University?for the construction of the Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and dormitories, and he endowed the Baker Lecture Series, the oldest continuous lectureship in chemistry in the United States.

Olin Hall - Spencer T. Olin?was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was an executive at Olin Corporation founded in 1892 by his father, Franklin W. Olin.

Olin Corporation is still in business today. Their headquarters are in Clayton, Missouri.

The Nobel Prize Laureates

Roald Hoffmann, 1981 (with Kenichi Fukui),1981 - Hoffman attended 美国哥伦比亚大学 and received his Ph.D. from 美国哈佛大学 . In 1965, he taught; he went to Cornell and remained there, where he is a professor emeritus.

Paul Flory, 1974 - Flory graduated from Elgin High School in Northern IL. He received a bachelor's degree from Manchester College, now Manchester University - Indiana, in 1931. He received his Ph.D. from 美国俄亥俄州立大学 in 1934. Later in 1934, he joined 杜邦 , and worked with organic chemist Wallace H. Carothers.

After Carothers' death in 1937, he worked at The University of Cincinnati in the Basic Research Laboratory. During World War II, there was a great need to develop synthetic rubber, so Flory joined the Esso Laboratories of the?Standard Oil Development Company. From 1943 to 1948, Flory worked in the polymer research team at 固特异 .

In 1948, Flory gave the George Fisher Baker lectures at Cornell, and subsequently joined the University as a professor. In 1961, he took up a professorship at 美国斯坦福大学 in the Department of Chemistry. After retirement, Flory remained active in the world of chemistry, running research labs at Stanford, and IBM .

Vincent du Vigneaud, 1955 - Vigneaud was born in Chicago in 1901, his interest in sulfur began when he entered high school and his new friends invited him to run chemical experiments on explosives using sulfur.

During World War I, senior students were made to work on farms, and du Vigneaud worked near Caledonia, IL. There, he became an expert in milking cows, which inspired him to become a farmer. However, his elder sister, Beatrice, persuaded him to take up chemistry at the 美国伊利诺伊大学香槟分校 , after which he enrolled in chemical engineering. After graduating in 1924 with a Masters of Science, he joined DuPont before receiving his Ph.D at The University of Rochester in 1927.

After 1928, he worked at the 英国爱丁堡大学 Medical School for a short time before returning to the University of Illinois?as a professor for a short time as well. Then, in 1932 he started working at 美国乔治·华盛顿大学 ,?and then in 1938 at The Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences , where he stayed until his?emeritation?in 1967. Following retirement, he held a position at?Cornell University?in?Ithaca, New York.

Peter J. W. Debye, 1936 - Born in?Maastricht, Netherlands, Debye enrolled in the?Aachen University of Technology?in 1901. In 1906, Sommerfeld received an appointment at?Munich,?Bavaria, and took Debye with him as his assistant. Debye got his?Ph.D.

In 1905, he completed his first degree in?electrical engineering. He published his first paper, a mathematically elegant solution to a problem involving?eddy currents, in 1907. At Aachen, he studied under the theoretical physicist?Arnold Sommerfeld, who later claimed that his most important discovery was Peter Debye.

At?Munich,?Bavaria, Debye was taken with him as his assistant. Debye got his?Ph.D.?with a dissertation on?radiation pressure?in 1908. In 1910, he derived the?Planck radiation formula?using a method ?Max Planck?agreed was simpler than his own.

In 1911, when?Albert Einstein?was appointed a professor at?Prague,?Bohemia, Debye took his old professorship at the?University of Zurich, Switzerland.?

In 1939, Debye traveled to the United States to deliver the Baker Lectures at?Cornell University. After leaving Germany in early 1940, Debye became a professor at Cornell, chaired the chemistry department for 10 years, and became a member of?Alpha Chi Sigma. In 1946, he became an American citizen.

Unlike the European phase of his life, where he moved from city to city every few years, in the United States, Debye remained at Cornell for the remainder of his career. He retired in 1952; however, he continued his research until his death.

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Pictured is Morse Hall, approximately 1898.