Materials Research Laboratory / Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory

Construction for Phase I [1] of the $4,750,000 Materials Research Laboratory [2] was approved on June 19, 1963, with Phase II to begin in October of that year.

Phase I involved "sheet piling the sides of the Boneyard Creek through the site and the provision of additional supporting piles for and the construction of slabs over the Boneyard to support a three-story connecting link between the Materials Research Laboratory and the present Physics Building" for a cost of $167,163. Construction was to begin immediately so that Phase II would not be held up, as the Advanced Research Projects Agency and the United States Atomic Energy Commission were investors in the building and had a vested interest in seeing it completed as soon as possible. [3]

The facility was finally completed in April 1965 and originally shared by the departments of "Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineering". [4] It was designed by Shaw, Metz & Associates in conjunction with University Architect Ernest L. Stouffer, while Johnson, Drake, Piper Inc. built it. [5]

The building was later renamed in honor of Frederick Seitz, Head of the Department of Physics from 1957 to 1964, Dean of the Graduate College from 1964 to 1965, [6] and the first full president of the National Academy of Sciences. He was also largely responsible for luring John Bardeen to the University of Illinois. [7]