Sloane Physics Laboratory

Through its long history, Sloane Physics Laboratory has developed into a prominent center for physics research within the United States, boasting 10 Nobel Prizes in Physics and the largest particle accelerator available for the use of undergraduate students (1, 2). Today, it continues to house Yale University’s Department of Physics and provides space for the hundreds of students and researchers that work in this building on a daily basis.

However, while it can be easily inferred through its ornamentation that this was at one time an impressive building, this gothic revival style building made of brown stone masonry with reinforced concrete is noticeably deteriorating. It additionally stands aside newer and taller buildings, taking away from its grandeur. With extremely cluttered lab spaces in the underground floors and limited classroom space in the upstairs, the building is threatened by the changing needs of an expanding university. While the classrooms continue to be renovated, implying they will continue to be used in the near future, greater demand for state-of-the-art laboratories has forced the university to move many of the physics teaching labs into the nearby buildings (3, 4). Additionally, with the construction of a brand new laboratory building within a few yards from the entrance of Sloane, rumors within the Physics department suggest that many of the researchers and faculty offices will be moved as well, leading to a drastic change in the use of this historic building (4, 5).

Sheffield Scientific School (1912-1945)

The plot of land now known as Yale University’s “Science Hill” began as the property known as Sachem’s Wood. Located within the Hillhouse Avenue and Prospect Hill Historical Districts, this plot of land is nested inside the wealthiest neighborhoods in New Haven. It lies at the edge of the Prospect District, which developed between 1880 and 1930 as a residential neighborhood for upper middle class business leaders and educators (7). Featuring Victorian stick style houses, some with rich, Second Empire ornamentation, these houses continue to be occupied by families of similar socioeconomic status as the original inhabitants, notably the families of many Yale University deans, professors, alumni, and staff members (7).

On the other side of the property, the Hillhouse Avenue District was established by James Hillhouse, a former senator and representative of Connecticut, in the hopes of creating a fashionable residential development (8). Upon the construction of the Farmington Canal, a waterway that traversed the region on it way to its outlet in the New Haven Harbor, increased economic optimism among New Haven’s upper class residents led to the commission of multiple homes along the district (8). The most important influence for the architecture style of the neighborhood came from James Hillhouse himself, as his family mansion at the top of the hill, on Sachem’s Wood where Sloane Physics Lab lies today, became a standard for these commissions. The form of his original Greek revival villa atop the park-like grounds of the site was repeated in the Hellenic and Italianate houses that continue to line the district (8).

While this mansion dominated the neighborhood for decades, a donation by Mrs. Russell Sage, a descendent of Hillhouse, transferred ownership of Sachem’s Wood to Yale University in 1910, at a time when Yale began looking to expand its curriculum to the sciences. This led to the nesting of Science Hill within the wealthy residential neighborhoods (16).

Yale University has continued to hold incredible prestige as an educational institution since its inception in 1701. However, for nearly two centuries, the university focused on a curriculum almost entirely in the arts and humanities. It was, at the time, believed that scientific instruction was far too vocational for the enlightening Yale course program (9). This, however, led to much controversy towards the 20^th century, especially as other forward-thinking universities such as Harvard began to incorporate sciences into its curriculum. Due to competition pressures, Yale University thus began to expand to include the sciences. However, in keeping with its original philosophy, it began by building laboratories and classrooms away from the center of campus despite the availability of space within Yale’s Old Campus, the original center of the university (9). Sloane was first placed on Library Street but has since been moved northwards, towards the wealthy Prospect and Hillhouse neighborhoods. While Sloane Physics Laboratory was the first of the buildings in what will later be known as Yale’s “Science Hill”, many came about soon after including the Osborne Zoology Laboratory, Sage Hall, and Sterling Chemistry Laboratory (9).

In 1847, the Sheffield Scientific School, specializing in the instruction of engineering and natural sciences, was founded on Prospect Street as a supplement to Yale’s curriculum (10). In its early years, a large divide existed between the students of the two schools despite both being under the same corporation. However, due to the wealth and resources of the University, students and faculty in the Sheff School were allowed to use Yale buildings for instruction. Thus, while buildings including Sloane Physics Lab were commissioned for Yale, its classrooms and laboratories were originally occupied mainly by students and faculty of the Sheff School (11). In fact, the first director of the Sloane Physics Laboratory was Henry A. Bumstead, a professor of physics at the Sheff School (12). Since then, the two schools have merged as instruction in the sciences has become more prominent.

Today, Yale’s Science Hill has developed into a prominent center for research and innovation. Despite the University’s start as an institution for education in the humanities, it has recently vowed to devote $500 million in resources to raise the profile of sciences at Yale. Of this money, $300 million is set to go to renovations of existing facilities and $200 million is set to go to five entirely new buildings (13).

In the physics department in particular, this development is extremely evident. Currently, the department houses over 50 faculty members, over 50 research staff, and over 100 graduate students in addition to the hundreds of Yale College undergraduates enrolled in physics courses (14). The department has additionally taken an integral role Yale’s recent promise to increase diversity by housing annual events such as the American Physics Society Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics and the Edward Bouchet Conference, the latter being named after a physics student at Yale who became the first African American to earn a doctorate degree at any American university (15).

Sloane Physics Laboratory is surrounded by other laboratory and classroom buildings owned by Yale University. Together, this complex of buildings is known as Yale’s Science Hill, and is thus very busy and constantly occupied by student pedestrians. The plot of land has been under construction for a majority of the past decade and tends to be very loud.

The land lies north of the center of the university, and many of the streets that lead up to the plot feature Italianate houses, formerly owned by upper middle class New Haven citizens, that have since been renovated into classrooms or administrative buildings (7). The streets are lined with lush trees and continue to appear residential despite their new use.

Further north, there are many Second Empire style houses that are part of the wealthy residential neighborhood of Prospect Hill (8).