Harvard Science Center

The Science Center at Harvard University was built in 1973. It is the major teaching venue on the campus for undergraduate science and mathematics.

The Science Center was designed by Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert, then dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Despite popular rumors, the building was not constructed to resemble old incarnations of the Polaroid camera, though its construction was financed by Edwin Land, Class of 1930, who invented the Polaroid.

Purpose

The Science Center houses a very diverse number of rooms and plays an integral role in the education of any Harvard student, many of whom visit the center at least once a day. The Science Center houses the offices of three academic departments, History of Science, Mathematics, and Statistics. The Cabot Science Library is also housed here. Other facilities of the Science Center include the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning; the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments; FAS Media and Technology Services ; Harvard Printing and Publications Services; the Greenhouse Cafeteria; the Harvard Yard Mail Center; the Prep Room Lecture Media Services; Lecture Demonstration Services; the Electronics Shop; teaching laboratories for astronomy, biology, organic and inorganic chemistry, geology, and physics; twenty general-use classrooms; innumerable offices; and other resources. Its largest and most utilized facilities are its five lecture halls, two of which are quite spacious in having capacity for courses of several hundred students. The basement and first floor are open 24 hours a day; access to the rest of the building after 5:00 p.m. is limited to Harvard University ID holders and others with proper authorization. ( [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~scdiroff/ Source] )