E D U C A T I O N

Harvard Gets New Chem Lab $1.7 million building is first chemical lab expansion in 30 years, adds 3 3 % to working space

X HE FIRST addition to Harva rd Uni­versity's chemical laboratories since 1928 was dedicated in Cambridge on Oct. 19. The new building in­creases working space of Harvard's chemistry department by one third. It will house both chemical research and teaching activities at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

The building cost $1.7 million, half of which came from the Xational Insti­tutes of Health. The school contrib­uted the other half with money from "A Program for Harvard College/ ' a fund set up to help finance expansion at Harvard.

The laboratory, designed hy Voor-hees, Walker, Smith, Smith and Haines, contains the latest in facilities: custom-built hoods, explosion-proof cold rooms, constant temperature-humidity rooms, movable partitions, modular plumbing and electrical systems, and complete air conditioning and soundproofing. One large room in the lab is set aside to house "laboratory equipment not yet in­vented."

Officially the building will be called

NEW LABS. Research assistant Rich­ard Blake goes to work in one of the labs in Harvard's new chemistry build­ing. The large model , on table in foreground, is a polyribonucleotide

the James Bryant Conant Chemical Laboratory to honor the man who was chairman of the Harvard chemistry de­partment for two years and president of the university from 1933 to 1953. The first people to occupy the building will be three senior faculty members and their associates: Pro!essor Konrad Bloch, known for his work on choles­terol and other biological substances; Professor Paul Dot>, a physical chem­ist active in the study of the relation of the structure of nucleic acids and proteins to their function in living mate­rial; Professor Frank Westheimer, chair­man of the depar tment , and a physical-organic chemist who has made contri­butions on the mechanism of organic and biochemical reactions.

• Growth of Chemis t ry . At the dedication, Dr . Conant reflected on the growth of chemistry at Harvard. The first Erving Professor of Chemistry, Aaron Dexter, explained to students in 1791 that the burning of a candle was the combination of air with the phlogis­ton in the candle. Josiah Cooke, the fourth Erving Professor, set up the first

student laboratory. It had no running water or gas, and no credit was given for t h e course. Still, t he undergradu­ates who worked there considered it a privilege, says Dr . Conant.

A more recent example of expansion in Harvard 's chemistry department is provided by figures on the number of postdoctoral research fellows. In 1928 there were six; this year there are 50 from 17 different countries. This, points out Harvard, reflects that many young foreign chemists now come here for advanced training rather than go­ing to the laboratories of Europe, as was common before 1930.

Arthur S. Flemming. Secretarv of Health, Kclucation, and Welfare, who represented the Government at the ded­ication, commented that the new building well illustrates the kind of partnership between Oovernment and higher education that must be broad­ened if t he nation is to take advantage of i t s opportunities. λΥίϋιοιιί federal aid right now, says Secretary Flem­ming, we will have to have crash pro­grams a few years from now which will be more costly and will result in sub­standard facilities.

However, Secretary Flemming thinks there is a limit to how far the Govern­ment should go. Pie believes that it is unwise, exeept in special circumstances, to broaden federal assistance to a point where the Federal Government contrib­utes to current budgets of institutions of Higher learning. It is better for the Government to assist on specific prob­lems, and once the problem is on its way to solution, turn t o other problems.

NEW BUILDING. Harvard has named its n e w chemistry building in honor of James Bryant Conant, chairman of Harvard's chemistry department for two years and president of the university from 1933 t o 1953. Here (left to r igh t ) , Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Arthur Flemming, Dr. Conant, Professor Konrad Bloch, and Harvard president Nathan Pusey inspect a lab

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