Gilman Hall

The Building That Lewis Built The Early Years The Nuclear Bunch Gilman Goes To War Postwar Gilman Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875-1946) Further Reading

The Building That Lewis Built The new chemistry building at the University of California, Gilman Hall, was dedicated in March 1918 as part of the university's "Semicentenary Week." In December 1911, Gilbert Newton Lewis, a well-established professor at MIT, had visited Berkeley and had stated his conditions for coming to head the College of Chemistry. These conditions called for an enlarged budget and increases in faculty and staff for the Department of Chemistry, then the only department in the College of Chemistry, and for an annex to be added to the old red-brick chemistry building. Lewis came to Berkeley in 1912. He supervised the enlargement of the department, and a modest annex was built for him. He also started planning for the "ultimate chemistry laboratory." In 1917, Lewis's building, a modern steel and concrete structure, was completed and named Gilman Hall. It was devoted exclusively to research and instruction in physical and technical chemistry. Gilman Hall was named for Daniel Coit Gilman, president of the university from 1872 to 1875. It was designed by John Galen Howard as a two-story building with a full basement largely aboveground. Gilman Hall also had a small subbasement, which was occupied by a liquid air plant. The first such plant at Berkeley, built in about 1904 or 1905, was inadequate to support Lewis's strong interest in thermodynamics, especially the Third Law; the subbasement was added later to the building plans, specifically for this purpose. There was also an extra floor, called the "attic," where much of the important research has been done. Room 307 in the attic was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966; it is where plutonium was identified as a new element in 1941. For any chemistry postdoctoral or graduate student from the Lewis era, the most storied room was number 102, where seminars were held. Lewis, filling the room with cigar smoke as was his custom, contributed to the research of all those present. He was an intellectual leader in what has become the American style of mentoring. He was strong, but he encouraged contributions from all those present as long as they were not foolish. It was this style that helped mold many of the leading physical chemists of his time. In the period after 1918, significant research developments in physical chemistry shifted from Germany to the United States with a great deal of this advancement taking place under the leadership of Lewis in Gilman Hall. Research performed in this building has resulted in two Nobel Prizes, and four other researchers from the Lewis years were subsequently Nobel laureates. Lewis's tenure in Gilman Hall was a period of great accomplishment that still influences the teaching and practice of chemistry.

NEXT  |  BACK  |  MAIN