Million-Dollar McKay Laboratory Opens

Newest University building in Cambridge, the Gordon McKay Laboratory of Applied Science opened for research this fall.

There was no formal opening or dedication ceremony for the million dollar addition to Harvard's engineering facilities. Instead, workmen have been moving scientific apparatus into the empty building since last June, and scientists began their work as painters and electricians left.

The laboratory, located on Oxford Street, will be devoted entirely to research on the graduate and post-graduate levels.

The three-story glass, steel, and concrete structure was built on funds from the bequest of Gordon McKay. An inventor who made great fortunes during the Civil War, McKay left the University 15 million dollars in 1906 with the stipulation that it was to go to furthering the progress of applied science.

But no-one was certain exactly what applied science included. Chemists, biologists, medical men all entered the fight along with the engineers to get a slice of the will.

Money to Engineering

This dispute went unresolved until 1950, when a committee of distinguished U. S. scientists, appointed by President Conant, decided that McKay had intended that his bequest go toward the engineering sciences. He had expressed an especial interest in mechanical engineering.

But only the equivalent of one floor will be devoted to mechanical engineering in the new building. The second floor, still unoccupied, will house facilities for research in mechanical engineering and metallurgy. Equipment for this work is now being installed. Mechanical engineering will also get some space on the first floor.

One Floor in Use

Only one of the three floors is fully occupied at present. This one, the third floor, is being used for work in electromagnetic radiation, solid state physics, and physical electronics. The group experimenting in electromagnetic waves also uses a penthouse on the roof of the building for antenna research. A unique feature of this installation is a ground-screen on top of the penthouse that will give the scientists the equivalent of an infinite plane for their experiments.

Designer of the new laboratory is the Boston firm of Shopley, Bullfinch, Richardson, and Abbott, architects for the University. Construction was started early in 1951 and was completed this past summer.

Slow Build-Up

Officials of the Division of Applied Science predict that some of the space in McKay will go unused for some time. The Division is slowly building up its mechanical engineering faculty, and the new men will bring new research projects with them when they come to the University.Lower right: Three graduate students in the electromagnetic radiation section take data from oscilloscopes and record it in project notebooks. They are, left to right, JOHN M. OSEPCHUK '48, DONALD B. BRICK '50, and CLINTON G. SHAFER 3G.