1940s > World War II
Cyclotron
The famous Columbia cyclotron was located in the basement of Pupin Hall. Columbia physicist, John R. Dunning, played a key role in the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bombs. In the early 1930s, Dunning became an outspoken advocate for general education in science. Here is Dunning on the importance of scientific literacy in September 1937, less than two years before he led the experiment that successfully split the atom for the first time:
"The college man of today is living in a world whose social, economic and political systems have been profoundly modified by science. Perhaps still more important is the fact that the scientific age is really only just beginning, and the influence of science on nearly every phase of human activity will continually grow in the future."
World War II Activity on Campus
Young Columbia Alumni training on the U.S.S. Prairie State to be become ensigns, 1940s
The Navy College Training Program, V-12 Curricula, Schedules, Course Descriptions, 1943
The Navy College Training Program, V-12 Curricula, Schedules, Course Descriptions, 1943 (pages 4-5)
The Navy College Training Program, V-12 Curricula, Schedules, Course Descriptions, 1943 (pages 10-11)
CC-B Exams During World War II
While Columbia's faculty sought to preserve the pre-war liberal arts curriculum, the courses themselves took on the question of how to investigate the war, its causes and likely consequences. CC-B exams throughout the war included questions on Germany and Russia and on the stability of America's own political system.
