Havemeyer Hall is a historic academic building located in

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

It was built between 1896 and 1898, under the direction of Charles Frederick Chandler and named after Columbia graduate Frederick Christian Havemeyer, a member of the Havemeyer family. The building is one of six original buildings on the

Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningside ...

campus in Columbia and a

National Historic Chemical Landmark The National Historic Chemical Landmarks program was launched by the American Chemical Society in 1992 to recognize significant achievements in the history of chemistry and related professions. The program celebrates the The central science, cent ...

. The Department of Chemistry of the university is based in Havemeyer Hall, and the majority of chemistry classes are taught there. Many important experiments in the history of chemistry have been conducted in the building, as well as significant research by some of the most well known chemists of the 20th century including Marston Taylor Bogert, Henry C. Sherman,

Milton C. Whitaker Milton C. Whitaker (1870-1963) was a noted 20th-century chemist. His areas of speciality were chemical engineering and industrial chemistry. Personal life Whitaker was born in Frazeysburg, Ohio, December 16, 1870, to R.B. Whitaker and Jennie Mag ...

and John Maurice Nelson. Seven individuals who researched in Havemeyer eventually received the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

, including

Irving Langmuir Irving Langmuir (; January 31, 1881 – August 16, 1957) was an American chemist, physicist, and engineer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 for his work in surface chemistry. Langmuir's most famous publication is the 1919 art ...

who won in 1932 for his work on

surface chemistry Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid–gas interfaces. It includes the fiel ...

and

Harold Clayton Urey Harold Clayton Urey ( ; April 29, 1893 – January 5, 1981) was an American physical chemist whose pioneering work on isotopes earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for the discovery of deuterium. He played a significant role in the d ...

in 1934 for his discovery of

deuterium Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two Stable isotope ratio, stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other being Hydrogen atom, protium, or hydrogen-1). The atomic nucleus, nucleus of a deuterium ato ...

. Aside from scientific and academic research, the building has appeared in several movies, in particular room 309, the grand, multi-level lecture hall designed by

Charles Follen McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partn ...

. Among the movies filmed there are ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

'', ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...

'', ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's ...

'', ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...

'', ''

Mona Lisa Smile ''Mona Lisa Smile'' is a 2003 American drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia R ...

'', ''

The Mirror Has Two Faces ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Barbra Streisand, who also stars. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is loosely based on the 1958 French film ''Le Miroir à deux faces'' writt ...

'', '' Kill Your Darlings'', ''

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

'', '' Kinsey'', '' Rollover'' and ''

Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Penny Marshall. It is written by Steven Zaillian, who based his screenplay on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir ''Awakenings''. It tells the story of neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams ...

''.

References

External links

Department of Chemistry, Columbia University
{{Columbia

Havemeyer Hall Havemeyer Hall is a historic academic building located in Columbia University in New York City. History It was built between 1896 and 1898, under the direction of Charles Frederick Chandler and named after Columbia graduate Frederick Christian Ha ...

University and college academic buildings in the United States