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 William A. Anthony was the creator of Cornell's famous department of physics. When professor of physics at Iowa State, Anthony had planned to go east for study during a summer vacation. The Iowa trustees requireed him to remain and supervise the plumbing of a new building. He did most of the installation with his own hands. This experience persuaded him to accept a call to Cornell. A man of great initiative and inventiveness, he build in 1872-1875, with the aid of a student, George S. Moler, the first American Gramme dynamo for direct current. Source: Bishop, Morris. A History of Cornell. Credit: Rare and Manuscripts Section of Kroch Library |
 George S. Moler with the first American Gramme Dynamo for direct current, 1875. Credit: Rare and Manuscripts Section, Kroch Library. |
 Galvanometer - Professor Anthony also built a mammoth tangent galvanometer, a device which utilized the earth's magnetic field for the measurement of current. In this photo, which was taken in 1886, Professor Ernest Merritt is seated at the telescope. The galvanometer was housed in a special building, the magnetic observatory, which was contructed using copper nails and even had a copper stove. Credit: Rare & Manuscripts Section, Kroch Library. |
 Left to Right: Physics Department Head Edward L. Nichols, Lord Kelvin, Cornell's President J. Gould Schurman. Photo taken in 1902.
During his visit to America, Lord Kelvin visited the Cornell Physics dynamo laboratory.
Credit: Rare & Manuscripts Section, Kroch Library. |
 Rockefeller Hall 1906 "For investigation and research the new building devotes more room and has better provisions than any other laboratory in the country." Source: Cornell Alumni News Vol. IX. No. 17 January 30, 1907 Credit: Rare and Manuscript Section, Kroch Library. |
 The Cornell cyclotron was built about 1935 and decommissioned in 1956. It was sent to the Hebrew Univeristy in Jerusalem. This photo with Assistant Professor Boyce D. McDaniel was taken in 1955. On Loan from the Physics Department. Credit: Photo Science Studies, Cornell University. |
 Newman Laboratory of Nuclear Studies The Newman Laboratory of Nuclear Studies was dedicated on October 7, 1948. The building is named for Floyd R. Newman (Cornell '12), who donated one million dollars toward the cost of the building's construction. The Unites States Navy donated a synchrotron, valued at $500,000. Photo by Sol Goldberg, Photo Science Service. Cornell University, 1949. Housed in Rare and Manuscripts Collection, Kroch Library. |
 Dr. Carl Gartlein and his wife Helen. Helen, the wife of Dr. Gartlein, used data assembled from far and wide to chart auroral displays at hourly (and sometimes fifteen-minute) intervals throughout their duration. The maps showed the shape of each display, its intensity, colors, and movement." Source: Sullivan, Walter. Assault on the Unknown. Credit: Rare and Manuscript Section, Kroch Library. |
 Hans Bethe (left) and Boyce D. McDaniel in the tunnel for the 10GeV synchotron, 1968.
Credit: Rare and Manuscripts Section, Kroch Library |
 Artist's cutaway sketch shows the Robert R. Wilson Synchotron. The half mile long circular tunnel is 43 feet below the upper alumni athletic fields. The straight tunnel across the diameter is for utilities and is also an escape route to the surface. Laboratory building is above ground level in scenic Cascadilla Gorge. Credit: Office of Public Affairs, Cornell University. |
 A renovation of Rockefeller Hall, which lasted for several years, began in 1979.
Lecture room A before the renovation
Photos Courtesy of the Physics Department
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 Lecture room A reincarnated as the Schwartz Auditorium.
Photos Courtesy of the Physics Department | |
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