The last hurrah

The Department of Physics is bidding farewell to the Avadh Bhatia Physics Building, the Subatomic Research Centre and the V-wing that bordered one of the most idyllic settings on campus.

The physics building is named for former department chair Avadh Bhatia, an internationally acclaimed physicist known for his research on condensed matter and ultrasonic waves as well as his pioneering work in theoretical nuclear physics.

During a send-off barbecue recently, students, faculty, staff and professors emeriti gathered at the Hugh Knowles Courtyard – named for horticulturalist and professor emeritus Hugh Knowles – one last time. The buildings are being demolished to make way for the new Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CCIS), which will be completed in 2010.

The loss of the physics building is being met with mixed feelings. Some bemoaned the fact that the building is being torn down. Others are grateful to see it go.

"It always looked like a jail to us," said Frank Weichman, who left Northwestern University to join the U of A in 1958.

The starting salary was about $6,000 per year – about two-thirds of the salary Weichman had been offered in the private sector. "But my wife and I thought it would be a nice adventure for a couple of years," he said.

At that time, the department was based in the main floor and basement of the Old Arts Building. The university and the department itself were beginning to grow from being "a really good teaching institution" to one which also had "strong research ambitions," he added, and although the need for a new building was apparent, the subject caused turmoil within the department.

"The place kind of exploded under the feet of the department chair . . . there was quite a battle in those days."

Weichman won't miss the old building. "It was designed by Public Works Alberta and all they could design was a square building. We had to fight to make sure we got the amount of electrical power we needed in there, and they couldn't fathom that."

Dr. Greg Taylor, Faculty of Science dean, says the buildings had outlived their usefulness. The V-Wing, he said, possessed a "constrained cinderblock atmosphere" whose shortcomings became obvious "the minute you walk into the building during class change."

"I think it's a pity that the building hasn't lasted much more than 50 years," said professor emeritus Eric Pinnington, who joined the U of A in 1965. "There have been some eminent people in the department, like Avadh Bhatia, and it seems to me that that's all being lost, any tradition we had.

"Once the dust settles it'll be good for the department but it's sad to see this go."

Department chair John Beamish feels upbeat about the department's future. For now, faculty and staff have been moved to the old Civil and Electrical Engineering building, which is itself undergoing renovations. Lecture halls in the new CCIS building will open in 2008, and new physics labs have already opened in CCIS Phase I, but the physics department's new home won't be completed until 2010.

"There will be undergraduates who never see our old building or our new building," said Beamish. "There's quite a lot of disruption we have to deal with."

Beamish added that some of the department's history will be preserved. The Subatomic Research Centre was at one time home to an early particle accelerator, which has been dismantled.

"Hopefully we can find a place to set up parts of it and remind people what one of the first research areas in our department was all about," said Beamish, who earned his undergraduate degree and PhD at the U of A, conducted postdoctoral work at Brown University and served as a faculty member at the University of Delaware before returning to the U of A in 1991.

"But there is no question we will have better teaching and research space and room to grow," he said of the CCIS. The $315-million, 52,227-square-metre Faculty of Science facility will accommodate 1,100 more undergraduate students and 478 more graduate students, and provide more than 2,800 new lecture and lab seats.

Beamish added that the department's astronomy outreach program, with an observatory atop the physics building, will move to the roof of the Fine Arts Building before finding a permanent home on the CCIS building.

"For a long time we've had a very active astronomy outreach program and we are going to keep it going," he said. "We are kind of concerned. A lot of school groups and scout groups come and use it."