Pupin Hall

Ever imagine a physics building could hold the secrets of the universe? Pupin Hall at Columbia University isn’t just any building. It’s a monument to scientific discovery, a place where atoms were first split in the United States. Pupin Hall stands as a testament to the brilliant minds who have walked its halls. It was built between 1925 and 1927, originally to give the Physics Department more space. It was later renamed in 1935 to honor Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, a Serbian physicist and Columbia alumnus. Pupin wasn’t just a physicist, he was an inventor, creating methods for rapid x-ray photography and the “Pupin coil” for long-distance telephones. Inside Pupin Hall, history whispers from every corner. In 1939, Enrico Fermi achieved the first splitting of a uranium atom in the US, just days after the world’s first successful experiment in Copenhagen. This breakthrough cemented Pupin Hall’s role in the Manhattan Project. The building became a hub for groundbreaking nuclear research. This research contributed to the development of the first atomic bomb. Pupin Hall also witnessed other remarkable discoveries. Harold Urey discovered deuterium here. George B. Pegram investigated the neutron. One of the nation’s first cyclotrons was built in Pupin’s basement. It remained there until 2007, a silent witness to decades of scientific progress. Today, Pupin Hall still buzzes with activity. The Rutherfurd Observatory sits atop the building, offering glimpses into the cosmos. The current main entrance is on the fifth floor, a quirky detail due to the construction of the Dodge Fitness Center below. Pupin Hall is more than bricks and mortar. It is a place where scientific dreams took flight, where the mysteries of the universe were probed, and where the future of physics was shaped.