The University of Glasgow's Natural Philosophy Building, c 1907.
Andrew Gray succeeded Lord Kelvin as Professor of Natural Philosophy in 1899. He felt that the department's accommodation in the Gilbert Scott Building had become overcrowded and ill-equipped and persuaded the University to provide a new building. Interestingly, he did not get much support from Lord Kelvin who is said to have believed that what had been good enough for him was good enough for his successor.
The new building boasted a large lecture theatre with high ceilings, balconies for demonstration rigs above the lecture bench and ample space for demonstrating experiments. It also had extensive teaching laboratories, research rooms, offices, workshop accommodation and storage facilities and was heated by a warm air circulation system. The cost of the building, at just over £40,867, was met from the University's equipment fund and building extension debt, and a grant of £20,000 from the Carnegie Trust.
Reference: Glasgow University Archive Services, PHU20/28
University of Glasgow
Keywords:
Carnegie Trust, Gilbert Scott building, Kelvin Building, Natural Philosophy Building, physics, professors, University of Glasgow buildings