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A Place for Materials Science: Laboratory Buildings and Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Pennsylvania

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Abstract

The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM), University of Pennsylvania, was built in 1965 as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's (ARPA) Interdisciplinary Laboratories (IDL) program intended to foster interdisciplinary research and training in materials science. The process that led to the construction of the four-story structure served as the focus of intense debates over the meaning and process of interdisciplinary research in universities. The location of the building, its size, internal design, and functionalities were all subject to heated negotiations among patrons, scientists, and university administrators, to find the proper place of interdisciplinary materials science on the University of Pennsylvania's campus. Building on the recent work on laboratory architecture, this paper argues that the negotiations and controversies over the LRSM building were concrete representations of the broader struggle over the appropriate place of interdisciplinary research and training within a university.

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Notes

  1. RSVP Card, UPF 8.55 Penn News Bureau Collection, Box 144, Folder 3, University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania (hereafter UPA).

  2. Arthur M. Bueche, “Remarks on the Occasion of the Dedication of the New Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter,” 15 October 1965, UPA, News Bureau Collection, UPF 8.55, Box 144, Folder 3.

  3. For a participants’ version of the story, see Psaras and Langford (1987). Several historians of science and technology have written on the various aspects of the national U.S. effort to develop materials science. See Lassman (1996), Leslie (1987, 1993), Bensaude-Vincent (2001), Bensaude-Vincent and Hessenbruch (2004), Mody and Choi (2013).

  4. Carl C. Chambers to Gaylord P. Harnwell, “Materials Science Activity,” 3 September 1959, UPA 4 Office of the President Records, Box 102, Folder “Research, Sponsored, ARPA, 1955–60 (II),” UPA.

  5. While the University of Pennsylvania was home to several student protest movements, the LRSM was not a particular target. However, at Cornell University, things were a bit different. As a Cornell physicist recalled, in 1969 “Clark Hall [Cornell’s IDL building] became a target. Missing for years from the wall in the breezeway was the stainless steel plaque testifying that the building owed its existence in part to ARPA. A student march one noon came through and ripped it off” (Hartman 2005 [1984]: 271).

  6. “Project Pontus” was the code name for the IDL Program used by DoD officials. See “Award Three Contracts in Materials Research Program,” Department of Defense Press Release, 30 June 1960, Box 38, Folder “Materials OST-CCMRD, 1958–74,” William O. Baker Papers, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University (hereafter WOB).

  7. Robert L. Sproull, “Early History of the MSC at Cornell,” Aug 1963, CCMR, Box 31, Folder 4, The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

  8. “Coordinating Materials Research in the United States: Background paper prepared by the staff of The President’s Science Advisory Committee,” 18 March 1958, Box 38, Folder “Materials OST-CCMRD, 1958–74,” WOB.

  9. John E. Clark to Gaylord P. Harnwell, 13 August 1959, UPA 4 Office of the President Records, Box 102, Folder “Research, Sponsored, ARPA, 1955–60 (II),” UPA.

  10. “A Proposed Program in Materials Science,” [n.d., 1960], UPA 4 Office of the President Records, Box 102, Folder “Research, Sponsored, ARPA, 1955–60 (I),” UPA.

  11. Maddin and Burstein retired from Penn; Hughes later moved to Cornell University, where he had received his Ph.D. in chemistry, to serve as the third director of Cornell’s IDL (Materials Science Center) following Sproull and Henri Sack. For details of Cornell’s Materials Science Center, see Mody and Choi (2013).

  12. “A Proposed Program in Materials Science.”

  13. Ibid.

  14. Charles Price to Materials Science Committee, 23 May 1960, Office of the President Records, UPA 4, Box 102, Folder: Research, Sponsored, ARPA 1955–1960 (III).

  15. Maddin to Price, 26 May 1960, Office of the President Records, UPA 4, Box 102, Folder: Research, Sponsored, ARPA 1955–1960 (III).

  16. University of Pennsylvania News Bureau, 4 October 1960, News Bureau Collection, UPF 8.55, Box 144, Folder 1.

  17. For Hobstetter’s academic career, see “A Proposed Program in Materials Science.” That a Bell Labs alumnus led the LRSM was perhaps no accident. As was noted by Eisler (2013), William O. Baker, vice president of research for Bell Labs, was one of primary proponents of the IDL program. Interpreting Baker’s writings, Eisler argues that materials science and engineering (MSE) “was a product primarily of the industrial laboratory.”

  18. John Hobstetter to President Harnwell, 7 December 1960, UPA 4 Office of the President, Box 143, Folder “Research, ARPA I, 1960–65,” UPA. In the same memo, Hobstetter cited examples of other IDLs to drive his point home. “Northwestern is building a 60,000 sq. ft. wing of which 45,000 sq ft. is ARPA supported. The additional third provides space for their non-ARPA people. Cornell is planning a new building of at least 127,000 sq. ft. (they hope for even more) of which 104,000 sq. ft. is ARPA supported. Again the additional quarter or more is for the use of their non-ARPA materials people.”

  19. Carl C. Chambers to Gaylord P. Harnwell, 11 January 1961, UPA 4 Office of the President, Box 143, Folder “Research, ARPA I, 1960–65,” UPA.

  20. Even with the enlarged space, not everyone in the materials-related disciplines moved into the LRSM building. While the School of Metallurgical Engineering moved in wholesale, some faculty members of the Departments of Physics and Chemistry chose to stay close to their disciplinary colleagues, even though they operated laboratories in the new building.

  21. LRSM, “Second Annual Technical Report, July 1, 1961–June 30, 1962,” UPA 4 Office of the President, Box 158, Folder “LRSM 2nd Annual Technical Report,” UPA.

  22. “New Light in the Search for Tomorrow’s Materials: A Prospectus of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (A Materials Science Research Center), University of Pennsylvania,” December 1960, UPF 8.55 Penn News Bureau Collection, Box 144, Folder 1, UPA.

  23. “University of Pennsylvania Materials Science Campaign: Status Report as of May 28, 1962,” 28 May 1962, UPA 4, Office of the President, Box 158, Folder “Development ARPA, 1961–1962,” UPA.

  24. “Minutes of Meeting, Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter Building,” 31 May 1962, UPA 4, Office of the President, Box 158, Folder “Development ARPA, 1961–1962,” UPA.

  25. R. Maddin and J. N. Hobstetter, “Graduate Education in Materials Science,” n.d. [1961], UPA 6.4 Provost’s General File, Box 39, Folder 16, UPA. Emphasis added.

  26. “Project Program: Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter,” University of Pennsylvania Planning Office, July 1961, p. 4. (Copy available in Research Annex, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania.)

  27. Ibid, p. 10.

  28. LRSM, “Second Annual Technical Report, July 1, 1961–June 30, 1962,” UPA 4 Office of the President, Box 158, Folder “LRSM 2nd Annual Technical Report,” UPA.

  29. Ibid.

  30. “LRSM Room Numbers and Functions, revised 1/11/68,” UPB 16.5 LRSM Financial Records, 1965–70, Box 2 (I), Folders 12–20, UPA.

  31. “A Cocoon of Glass and Concrete,” Of Mutual Interest (Summer 1964): 6–8. Copy available in UPF 8.55 Penn News Bureau Collection, Box 144, Folder 2, UPA.

  32. University of Pennsylvania News Bureau, 1 May 1968, UPF 8.55 Penn News Bureau Collection, Box 144, Folder 2, UPA.

  33. “A Cocoon of Glass and Concrete.”

  34. In this regard, the central facilities can be interpreted as “trading zones,” to use a term developed by Peter Galison (1997) and others, where scientists and engineers from diverse disciplines came to work together. For recent discussions and elaborations on the terminology, see Gorman (2010).

  35. J. N. Hobstetter to Gaylord P. Harnwell, 7 September 1966, UPA 4 Office of the President, Box 210, Folder “LRSM (Research), 1965–1970,” UPA. Emphasis added. Indeed, an examination of the publications from 1964–65 yields a similar conclusion. Virtually all of the papers were authored by faculty members from the same department. See “Fifth Annual Technical Report: Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter,” 30 June 1965.

  36. With all the difficulties of measurement, most Penn scientists would have assessed the LRSM as a successful interdisciplinary endeavor, as Louis A. Girifalco recalled years later: “I can tell you from observation that regardless of any objective data you try to generate… this broadening [of interdisciplinary collaboration] has been very real and collaboration one way or another has been very, very real and I think an amazingly powerful development in American science.” In making this argument, Girifalco pointed to the emergence of bioengineering and nanotechnology (studies of nanotubes, in particular) at the University of Pennsylvania (Girifalco 2008).

  37. Penn News Bureau, “LRSM awarded additional grant of $2.5 million from ARPA of DOD,” 1 May 1968, UPA 4, Box 210, Folder “ARPA DOD,” UPA.

  38. “Materials Research Laboratories: Where to in Materials Research,” n.d. [1971?], CCMR, Box 5, Folder 5, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

  39. “A Cocoon of Glass and Concrete.”

  40. Dawn Bonnell, interview with authors, 22 August 2011; Kling Architects, “LRSM Nanotech Feasibility Study,” 21 May 2004, copy in possession of the authors.

  41. Reversely, this could also be seen as a case in which the older institution serving as a “stepping stone” for the successful launch of the new institution. The phenomenon is not too uncommon in the recent history of academic science and engineering. See, for example, Mody (2010).

  42. Kling Architects, “LRSM Nanotech Feasibility Study,” 30.

  43. “Alumnus Krishna Singh’s $20 Million to Engineering,” University of Pennsylvania Almanac 54(2) (4 September 2007): 1, 6.Holtec is an energy technology company located in New Jersey specializing in equipment used to store spent nuclear fuel.

  44. “Welcome Back from the President: Rededication to Thinking across Disciplines,” University of Pennsylvania Almanac 54(2) (4 September 2007): 1. Perhaps taking the cue from Gutmann, the architects at Weiss/Manfredi makes a similar statement in describing the Singh Building. See http://www.weissmanfredi.com/project/krishna (last accessed 5 November 2013).

  45. “University of Pennsylvania Selects Weiss/Manfredi, M+W Zander to Design Singh Nanotechnology Center, Penn News, 26 February 2008.

  46. Special thanks to Matthew Eisler (2013) for this insight.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ruth Schwartz Cowan, W. Patrick McCray, Cyrus Mody, Matt Eisler, Jody Roberts, and Dawn Bonnell, as well as the anonymous reviewers for critical commentaries on earlier versions of this article. Choi’s work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under cooperative agreement #SES-0938099 to the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Scholars Award No. 1127663 to the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Shields’ work was supported by the University of Pennsylvania’s Nano/Bio Interface Center through the NSF NSEC DMR08-32802.

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-744, Korea

    Hyungsub Choi

  2. Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Suite 303 Claudia Cohen Hall, 249 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6304, USA

    Brit Shields

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  1. Hyungsub Choi
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Correspondence to Hyungsub Choi.

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Choi, H., Shields, B. A Place for Materials Science: Laboratory Buildings and Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Minerva 53, 21–42 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-015-9265-6

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