Schermerhorn Hall () is an academic building 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. Morningsi ...

campus of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

located at 1190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York City, United States. Schermerhorn was built in 1897 with a $300,000 gift from alumnus and trustee

William Colford Schermerhorn William Colford Schermerhorn (June 22, 1821 – January 1, 1903) was an American lawyer, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Early life Schermerhorn was born in New York City on June 22, 1821. He was the son of Peter Schermerhorn (1781–18 ...

. It was designed by

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...

, and was originally intended to house the "natural sciences". During the early 20th century, it was used for studying botany, geology, physics, mechanics, and astronomy. The inscription above the doorway reads, "For the advancement of natural science. Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee." Today, Schermerhorn Hall houses the Departments of Art History and Archeology, Earth and Environmental Science, and Psychology. The famous Fly Room of evolutionary biologist

Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an Americans, American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, Embryology, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries e ...

was located in room 613, where Morgan studied the genetic characteristics of the fruit fly ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

''. His work in Schermerhorn would lead to his discovery of the role of

genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

in genetic inheritance, which earned him the 1933

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

. During the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

, Schermerhorn was used "for early 'pile' research and

gaseous diffusion Gaseous diffusion is a technology that was used to produce enriched uranium by forcing gaseous uranium hexafluoride (UF6) through microporous membranes. This produces a slight separation (enrichment factor 1.0043) between the molecules containi ...

research and development and operation of a barrier production pilot plant."

References

Columbia University campus McKim, Mead & White buildings University and college academic buildings in the United States School buildings completed in 1897 {{NewYork-struct-stub