Etcheverry Hall houses the Departments of

Mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

Industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, and Nuclear Engineering of the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Etcheverry Hall is named after Bernard A. Etcheverry, professor of

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic condition ...

from 1915–51, who later served as chair of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage from 1923–51. Built in 1964, it is located on the north side of Hearst Avenue, across the street from the main campus. The basement of Etcheverry Hall housed the Berkeley Research Reactor between 1966 and 1987.

Bernard A. Etcheverry

Bernard Alfred Etcheverry was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

on June 30, 1881 and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1902. He married Helen Hanson on August 6, 1903 and together they had two sons, Bernard Earle and Alfred Starr. His first teaching appointment was to the Department of Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he taught during the 1902–03 academic year. After that, he taught physics and civil engineering at the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

for two years before returning to Berkeley for the remainder of his career, from 1905 until his retirement in 1951. In addition to teaching, he served as an engineer for the construction of the

Hearst Greek Theatre The William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre, known locally as simply the Greek Theatre, is an 8,500-seat amphitheater owned and operated by the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, USA. The Greek Theatre hosts The Berkele ...

on the Berkeley campus. He moved into a new home in Kensington in 1953. Professor Etcheverry died on October 26, 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Renovations

The basement reactor room currently houses large experiments for the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Berkeley, including the Compact Integral Effects Test (CIET), which studies the thermal hydraulics, design, and operation of fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors. The V&A Café opened on the third floor of Etcheverry Hall in June 2017. This followed a series of renovations begun in 2016 planned to take place over a 10-year period to modernize the building.

References

External links

Contract for Fuel Elements for Nuclear Reactor, Berkeley
(''Minutes of The Regents of the University of California meeting of March 26, 1965'')
Etcheverry Hall on the UC Berkeley campus map

{{coord, 37.875663, -122.25928, display=title University of California, Berkeley buildings Nuclear reactors