Campus walks: Ryerson physical laboratory
Ryerson laboratory had served as the home of the Department of Physics between 1894, its completion, and 1985, for more than a century. After the department had occupied the William Eckhardt Research Center (located on the northwest corner of East 57th Street and South Ellis Avenue; its street address is 5640 S. Ellis Avenue), and the Michelson Center for Physics (located on E. 56th street about midway between South Ellis and South Drexel Avenues), the Ryerson laboratory building got renovated, and today it is where the Department of Computer Science is found.
Who was Martin A. Ryerson whose name the building bears, you may ask. Well, he played a pivotal role in the creation and the rise of the University of Chicago, so it is worthwhile to stop at him for a minute. His name leads us back to the early days of the university. When banker and trader Charles Hutchinson, sharing the idea of founding a new university and leaving a business career for focusing on his new mission, joined John D. Rockefeller, a friend followed him whose role turned out to be key in shaping the campus. It was steel magnate (and lawyer, philanthropist, and art collector) Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932). He was the one who persuaded the board of trustees that the new university should be located on a four-block site with the Main Quadrangles, a square-shaped green space surrounded by Gothic buildings. Ryerson provided the financial background for the erection of a building as a memory to his father (Martin L. Ryerson, a lumber merchant in Michigan who died in 1887, three years before the University of Chicago was founded). Martin’s gift of $150,000 covered the building costs, to which he later added some more $50,000 to fund the purchase of laboratory equipment and furniture (his total donations to the university exceed 2 million dollars, including a vast contribution to the creation of Harper Memorial Library). Ryerson laboratory building belongs to the core that Cobb designed. As a philanthropist, later Ryerson donated his art collection to the Art Institute of Chicago.
The building contains several unique architectural details of which I’d like to mention two: the miniature observatory surrounded by crenelated battlements, and a spiral staircase corkscrews up the front tower. The building had been constructed free from iron so there would be no magnetic disturbances. With time things changed, so it is no longer true. A third detail to mention from the later non-iron era might be the central staircase with its iron filigree trims. Some of the innovations of the building may sound strange to the ears of the day. But please, remember that Ryerson laboratory building was erected at the end of the 19th century when standards and available technologies were of different scales as compared to today’s possibilities. Apropos of the dedication, in his speech President Harper gave a massive list:
“The walls and floors are strong and heavy; the laboratories on the first floor are provided with piers of masonry in addition to the heavy slate wall-shelves which are found throughout the building. Every laboratory is provided with gas for light or fuel, electricity for light and power, water, compressed air, and vacuum pipes.
The laboratories are also equipped with a system of heating apparatus which may be used as a direct or indirect system, and is controlled automatically by the most approved form of temperature regulators. Ducts and channels have been provided between the walls and floors, so that pipes or wires may be laid from one part of the building to the other without difficulty…”
Interestingly, Ryerson laboratories was also the place for the Manhattan Project, the poignant episode in the history of science having led to the nuclear bomb. After the University reclaimed the building from the Manhattan Project, balloons used for the study of weather and of cosmic rays were launched from two platforms on the roof. As the balloons increased in size and sophistication, the launches were transferred to Stagg Field where Enrico Fermi and his colleagues created the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Stagg Field was demolished in 1957, and the Joseph Regenstein Library, opened in 1970, stands on much of the former Stagg Field site. Stagg Field today is also a sports field located behind Ratner Athletic Center. Stories to tell in dedicated blog posts. I am quite sure that balloons flying away in the wind from Ryerson laboratories raised some public interest. However, it is a fact that some devices of Cloud Physics were far more than interesting to the public. Cloud Physics installed a wind tunnel on the roof level of Ryerson. When the equipment was turned on, the sound was clearly heard all over the neighborhood and led some to rush to the phones to share their thoughts about the noise level in various styles.
So, this is Ryerson. A complete or at least more detailed guide should mention some names from the history of the building, the university, and physics. The several Nobel prizes that were delivered into Ryerson.
Not related to Ryerson, this is just a short walk in the southern section of the Main Quadrangles, ranging from the Classics through Harper Library up to Pick Hall.
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