The David Rittenhouse Laboratory (DRL) is an academic and research building at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, USA. The building is named for

David Rittenhouse David Rittenhouse (April 8, 1732 – June 26, 1796) was an American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society ...

, a notable American astronomer and Penn professor of the 18th century and the president of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

. DRL is the home of two departments of the University of Pennsylvania: the Physics and Astronomy Department and the Mathematics Department. Many other disciplines also hold classes in the building due to its ample lecture space. Because of this, the building is one of the most heavily used at the university. There is also an observatory on the roof that is accessible to astronomy students. The three-story portion of the building was constructed in 1954. The four-story addition was built in 1967. Partial funding for the building came from the General Authority of Pennsylvania, which has a seal displayed on the first floor of the building. The architect for the original structure was James R. Edmonds, Jr. though the addition was designed by Van Alan. There are stylistic differences between the two parts of the structure – for example, the windows of the 1967 section on the

Walnut Street Walnut Street may refer to: * Walnut Street (Philadelphia) *Walnut Street (Pittsburgh) *Walnut Street station (disambiguation) Walnut Street station may refer to: * Walnut Street station (SEPTA), a SEPTA trolley station in Upper Darby, Pennsylvani ...

facade are fashioned in the shape of the rounded-edge television monitors of the time. In February 2019, a group of faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and staff petitioned the administration to fix the recurring maintenance problems (e.g., water dripping from leaks in the ceilings, HVAC problems including poor temperature control, etc.) that occur in the building. In November 2023, The

Daily Pennsylvanian ''The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.'' is the independent student media organization of the University of Pennsylvania. The DP, Inc. publishes The Daily Pennsylvanian newspaper, 34th Street Magazine, and Under the Button, as well as five newslette ...

reported that the DRL is included in part of a 600 million renovation planned over the next several years.

References

External links

Department of Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania

Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
{{Penn University of Pennsylvania campus School buildings completed in 1954 1954 establishments in Pennsylvania