New Laboratory Named For President Conant

The James Bryant Conant Laboratory--newest addition to the University's "science city"--received its official dedication yesterday before a group of notables including the President Emeritus, President Pusey, and Arthur S. Flemming, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

The overflow crowd of 400 in Mallinckrodt Large Lecture Room rose in a standing ovation to Conant when President Pusey named the four-story addition in honor of the former President. "This new building fulfills the needs Mr. Conant foresaw years ago," Pusey stated as he lauded the work of his predecessor.

Conant himself convulsed the audience with humorous tales of the history of science at the University and the Harvard chemical tradition which "almost antedates chemistry as a science." Speaking as a "voice from the past," he compared the drive to build additional laboratory facilities after the First World War with the current expansion. Pusey also drew an historical analogy with 1928, when Mallinckrodt opened, and praised the "close cooperation" of the government and the University which made the new building possible.

Secretary Flemming Praises Government Assistance

The National Institute of Health contributed over $855,000 for the construction of the 60-man laboratory, with the Program for Harvard College and private donations financing the rest of the cost. Secretary Flemming also praised this cooperation, stating that the federal government "should continue to help finance expansion at institutes of higher learning without undermining their academic freedom." "A partnership symbolized by this building has developed between the government and higher education," the Secretary commented. He expressed the hope that the Government would continue to sponsor construction by American colleges "to help young people realize their best potentialities."

But as for many undergraduate and graduate students, the most interesting part of the ceremony came at the Open House after the dedication. Ten cases of imported champagne quickly disappeared; seminar rooms on the upper three floors of the new building were converted to makeshift bars.

The laboratory building itself has not been completely finished, but graduate students and Faculty members have started to move into it. No undergraduates will use the new facility, which is devoted to both chemistry and biochemistry.