Carleton College - Algol Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

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LAIRD On the Carleton campus, the home of the sciences has long been Laird Hall. It was erected in 1905 as a result of a $100,000 endowment to the science department by Mr. William H. Laird, then chairman of the Board of Trustees. Laird Hall was officially dedicated during Commencement Week in June, 1906, marking the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the college. Forty-one candidates received their degrees as Laird became the si.xth permanent building to take its place around the Bald Spot. When in 1921 the chemistry department, along with the geology department, moved to its present home in Leighton Hall, Laird was left with tlie biolog % but later welcomed the botanv, zoology, and phvsics de- partments and the offices of the president and the vice- president. 28

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The proposed library will lie between Laird and Leighton Halls. It was designed with these factors in mind: first, the Carlcton student body will never ex- ceed 1,000; second, Carleton will always remain a liberal arts undergraduate college. Since the main function of the building is to proyide ample space for books and study, these two points keynote the architectural structure in the plans. Whereas the reading room at the present library measures 26 ' 64 ' , the new building ' s main reading room will he 75 ' x 175 ' . Supplementing this study space will be 155 carrels, individual study cubicles with ex- posure to the north, seven seminar rooms where con- ferences or class sessions may be held, and lounges for informal browsing and smoking. The building is de- signed for convenience with open stacks, glass en- closures, and many waist-high bookcases, giving the appearance of casual spaciousness and openness. As growing children ' outgrow their clothes, so, it seems, must Carleton outgrow Scoville . Memorial Library. However, it will never be forgotten, for the students, while looking to the future, will remember many hours spent inside those ivy-covered walls. Kit Stokstad hits the home stretch of a term paper. 27

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Physics PHYSICS DEPARTMENT Dr. Margenau, Dr. Butler, and Dr. Verbrugge. Dr. Margenau, Hill Foundation lecturer. Including Dr. Frank Verbrugge, chairman, and Dr. William A. Butler, the department of physics under- took projects including a study of . -ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance. Research involved an in- strument designed by Dr. Verbrugge that allowed pre- cise measurement of magnetic resonance phenomena. Exultation swept through Dr. Henry Margenau ' s large class at the close of his first lecture. Here was a man who loved and knew his science and philosophy so well that complicated subjects became simple and beautifully logical under his teaching. Not only his two classes, but Sigma Xi, convocation, and many in- formal groups discovered this faculty. Regretfullv, at the semester ' s close, his manv Carleton friends sent the popular Hill Foundation lecturer home to Yale. Fritz Phelps adjusts an instrument. 29