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   from the issue of February 16, 2006

     
 
FROM THE ARCHIVES

 

Brace Hall

 

 

Built in 1904, Brace Laboratory (Hall) was named in honor of DeWitt Bristol Brace (1859-1905).

Brace is recognized as the founder of the physics department at UNL and is widely known as the inventor of three precision instruments for measuring light.

Brace arrived to teach in Lincoln in 1887. During his one-year trial period, Brace taught six courses, most of them with new laboratories he instituted. At the end of the year, he was made a full professor and named the chairman of newly formed physics department. He spent most of the next decade building the new department.

The first doctorate issued at a school west of the Mississippi went to Harold Allen - one of Brace's students - in 1896.

Brace lobbied for a new building as the department grew and a location was selected in 1904. However Brace had to plan carefully as the building site - west of University Hall - could not infringe on a nearby field used for football practice.

Brace Laboratory was completed in December 1905. Unfortunately, Brace was unable to enjoy the new building as he died from blood poisoning in October 1905.

Brace Laboratory is constructed of Omaha grey pressed brick. It has changed little since being built, as terra-cotta detail over the front entry, cast iron roof cresting and finials have been removed.

Brace Laboratory was designed by Fisher and Lewis, successors of the Omaha firm that designed Architecture Hall.

For more information on Brace, go online to www.physics.unl.edu.


Future file - A leader in the Harlem Renaissance, this African American painter is a 1922 NU graduate. "From the Archives" will feature this alumnus in the Feb. 23 edition of the Scarlet.



From the Archives is a regular Scarlet feature depicting items from the university's past. This week's image was provided by the University Libraries. To suggest or contribute a feature, call 472-8515.


GO TO: ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 16

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

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