View source for Schermerhorn Hall

[[Image:Schermerhorn.jpg|thumb|300px|Schermerhorn Hall]]

'''Schermerhorn Hall''' (pronounced sker-mer-horn) is a building on the [[Morningside Heights campus]] housing a mix of departments.

== History ==

Schermerhorn was built in [[1897]] to a design by [[McKim, Mead, and White]] to house the "natural sciences." An inscription above the doorway reads "For the advancement of natural science. Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee." 

The building was a gift of William C. Schermerhorn, [[Columbia College]] Class of [[1840]].<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZvAKAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA143&ots=XuNFdVGi8O&dq=columbia%20schermerhorn%20alumnus&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q=schermerhorn&f=false A history of Columbia University, 1754-1904, p. 162]</ref> The chairman of the [[trustees]] at the time and an enthusiast for Columbia's move to [[Morningside Heights]], he offered $300,000 for a building of whatever purpose the university saw fit.<ref>[http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/schermerhorn/chronicles/3b.html Schermerhorn Geneaology and Family Chronicles - see William Colford Schermerhorn]</ref>

[[Thomas Hunt Morgan]] conducted his Drosophila experiment in his Schermerhorn "Fly Room" in 1900, leading to his [[Nobel Prize]] in Medicine, the first for genetics. During the Second World War, some initial [[Manhattan Project]] research occurred here, though most of Columbia's efforts on the project were concentrated in [[Pupin Hall]].

== Occupants ==

Today Schermerhorn is home to the following departments and organisations:
*[[African-American studies]]
*[[Anthropology Department]]
*[[Art History and Archaeology Department]]
*[[Psychology Department]]
*[[Women's Studies Department]]
*[[Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Department]]
*[[Wallach Art Gallery]]
*[[Center for Environmental Research and Conservation]] (CERC)
*[[Geology Library]]

== Schermerhorn Extension ==

Directly behind and connected to Schermerhorn and is Schermerhorn Extension. The easiest way to get to a room in the extension is to enter Schermerhorn, make a right, walk until the end of the hallway, make a left, go all the way forward and down a few stairs and make a right, then another left. You're now in the Extension. On your right are a bank of elevators that will get you to the rest of the floors. Alternatively, enter the service gate on 118th St and [[Amsterdam Ave]] during the daytime and use the door immediately on the left if it's still open.

Also, your chances of finding a bathroom here are as high as the chances of [[Barack Obama]] speaking at campus.

If the above instructions were too complicated to read, let alone follow, you're best off not majoring in one of the subjects listed above.

== Photos ==
<gallery>
Image:SchermerhornFront.jpg|Front of building
Image:Flickr-jasonhe-schermerhorn.jpg|South-west corner
</gallery>

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Buildings]]
[[Category:Morningside Heights campus]]