Nielsen Physics Building

Construction on the new physics building began November 28, 1960, and the building was occupied in summer 1962. The 70,359-square-foot building was designed by Barber and McMurry and constructed at a cost of $1,148,000. A $108,000 grant from the National Science Foundation was matched by the State to allow adding 14,702 square feet of research laboratory space to the original design.

The fully air-conditioned building had four lecture halls, a student shop, an observation deck with telescope for astronomy classes, and modern, state-of-the-art classrooms. The electrical system of the building was designed to allow several experiments to be in progress without interfering with each other. The board of trustees approved naming the building the Alvin H. Nielsen Physics Building in June 1980, and a formal naming ceremony was held on October 24, 1980. Nielsen, as head of the Physics Department (1956–69, the last six concurrently as dean of liberal arts), had helped to specify what the building should include. Nielsen was dean of liberal arts (now arts and sciences), from 1963 to 1977, and then returned to the physics faculty. He was internationally known as a physicist and forged the initial relationships between UT and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He was among the early investigators of infrared spectra of molecules.

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  • Title Nielsen Physics Building
  • Author
  • Keywords Nielsen Physics Building
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
  • URL
  • Access Date July 15, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 9, 2018