Pupin Physics Laboratories
- See also Wikipedia's article about "Pupin Hall".
Pupin Physics Laboratories, also known as Pupin Hall (pronounced "Pyoo-pin," not "Poo-pin") is home to the Physics Department and a National Historic Landmark. It was built in 1925-1927 to provide more space for the Physics Department which had originally been housed in Fayerweather Hall, and named for Serbian physicist Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin CC 1883.
The building is a landmark due to the advances in nuclear research made there during the Manhattan Project to develop the first nuclear weapon. It is connected to the university tunnels, from which one can occasionally access the Manhattan Project's leftover cyclotron and other historic research facilities. Sadly, many of these have been sealed off since the 1980s, when Ken Hechtman wrought havoc with nuclear materials he stole from Pupin's basement.
The current entrance to Pupin is on the 5th floor from the plaza above Dodge Physical Fitness Center. This means that many rooms in Pupin are subterranean and, therefore, windowless - a bad place to have to sit through a discussion section. The original entryway was on the first floor from the Grove, but got blocked by the construction of Dodge in the 1960's. The entryway smells like chlorine because Uris Pool has an exit stairway leading into Pupin's entry for some reason.
The Rutherford Observatory is on top of Pupin, which is convenient for the Astronomy Department professors who also work in Pupin. Unfortunately, the night sky in New York is usually too bright for it to be used. Instead, astronomy types have to head to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
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