Fire. Wheel. Compass. Each discovery and invention offers an example of man’s understanding of nature and the laws that govern her, and how those laws can be used to improve and enlarge his place in the world.

Each discovery fuels curiosity, and the fields of science continue to increase in number.

Throughout its history, Wittenberg has recognized and met the challenges of the ever-changing world of science to provide interested students with the courses and facilities needed to succeed in these increasingly competitive and complex career opportunities.

As early as 1845, when Wittenberg began its first session, the college recognized student interest in science, offering such courses as physiology, chemistry, mechanics, optics, botany, astronomy, mineralogy and geology, according to the Catalogue of Officers and Students in Wittenberg College for the First Two Academical Years, 1845-7, Springfield, Ohio.

These and all other classes were conducted in the “college edifice,” a four story, 58' x 48' building that soon grew into Myers Hall.

A History of Wittenberg College (1845-1945) by Harold H. Lentz, notes that during the first year, 42 students were enrolled at the college.

That number increased to 57 a year later, according to Lentz, and so did the course offerings with the addition of acoustics, electricity and magnetism, zoology and meteorology.By 1874, the college added the Department of Civil Engineering.

Terms such as qualitative analysis, crystallography, organic chemistry and chemical technology also found their way into the academic catalog along with the pronouncement, “Microscopic study of rocks will constitute an additional feature of the department.

Field work, whenever and wherever possible, will be constantly carried on. Students are urged to take up advanced courses after completing the regularly prescribed work. For such who desire special instruction proper provision will be made.”

By 1884, Recitation Hall was completed, and it soon became home to the chemical and physical laboratories — laboratories Myers Hall could no longer hold.

At the same time, paleontology, urine analysis and toxicology were added as courses in the natural sciences. Lentz states that by 1908, enrollment at Wittenberg had grown to 212 undergraduate students.

Such increases in the student population and a growing interest in science fueled another expansion on campus, that to Carnegie Hall.

Located just south of Recitation Hall and built with donations from Andrew Carnegie, the structure was soon regarded as the “best equipped science building in the state,” according to the April 17, 1912 Wittenberger.

As time progressed, however, more space again was needed, and another “laboratory building” was erected on the north side of Recitation Hall.

Designed specifically to house the chemistry and psychology departments, the building was named Koch Hall in honor of Judge and Mrs. John H. Koch of Ohio City.

The catalog for 1927-28 includes an extensive list of equipment contained in the building and notes the “the department is completely equipped and affords students every opportunity for study and research.”

Just a few years later, Wittenberg again recognized the need for expansion, and this time selected a site north of Koch Hall.

Dedicated in 1931, the Elgar Weaver Observatory, as it was named, offered students a “10-inch telescope, a meridian transit, a chronograph, a spectroscope and a sidereal clock,” which sat idle during the war years, according to an article in the May 3, 1946 edition of the Torch.

Thirty years passed before Wittenberg expanded its science facilities again. This time, the college chose the hilltop northwest of Myers Hall.

In April 1960, The Alumnus published an article with an architect’s concept of a new million-dollar science building, but on May 6, 1966, the Torch featured an article and artist’s concept of the new $2.1 million science building to be completed by September 1967.

The building plans included the latest state-of-the-art equipment, research laboratories and much needed space. The article noted that “enlarged labs and additional equipment will result in an expanded curriculum.”

Nelson Sartoris, professor of chemistry who began teaching at Wittenberg in 1968, has watched this come true.“When we left Koch Hall, we had two major instruments,” he said. “Today, we have 70 computers and 40 instruments.”

New majors have also been added, including biochemistry and microbiology. More than 30 years later, interest in science continues at an even more accelerated pace.

Just in the last 10 years, for example, the number of science majors has more than doubled so that today one out of every four Wittenberg students with declared majors studies science, according to science faculty.

With that in mind, Wittenberg has again identified a new threshold for science at Wittenberg — the renovation of Science Hall. And, once again, Wittenberg looks to meet the future needs of its students.

— Phyllis Eberts ’00