Abstract
AT the meeting of the Court of Governors of the University of Birmingham in February, reference was made to the urgent need of further accommoda tion for the Department of Chemistry, but it was pointed out that the financial commitments incurred in the building of the new Medical School were such as to make the desired addition to the chemistry building impossible for the present. The difficulty has now been solved by the generous gift of £45,000 by Mr. A. E. Hills, a Birmingham tube manufacturer, for the specific purpose of erecting an additional block of buildings for the Department of Chemistry. In his letter to the Pro-Chancellor, Mr. Hills says: “For some time past I have had in my mind the desire to assist the higher education of those likely to be engaged in industry in Birmingham and the Midlands, with which I have been closely connected in my business life. I have come to the conclusion that I can best do so by helping the University in one of its scientific departments which is in need of extension. … It seems to me that the department most overcrowded and badly housed is that of Chemistry. Much of its work is being carried on in wooden huts which are inadequate and are becoming dangerous. The present Chemistry block is insufficient for the increasing number of students who come to it for the training in chemistry which forms a necessary part in practically all scientific careers, and also for those engaged in post-graduate research.” It is understood that the new block will fill the gap be tween the existing chemistry and geological blocks, thus completing the western part of the architect's original scheme for the group of buildings.
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Gift to the University of Birmingham. Nature 134, 281 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134281c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134281c0