Nielsen Hall

Nielsen Hall. . This building, which houses the Department of Physics and Astronomy, honors one of the University of Oklahoma's most renowned professors, Jens Rud Nielsen (1894-1979). Nielsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. and attended the University of Copenhagen, earning two degrees there. He studied with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. He came to the United States in 1922 to study at the California Institute of Technology, earning his Ph.D. in 1924 and was hired by the University for that fall to teach physics. He was to serve the University through his teaching and research for the next forty-one years. , Nielsen rapidly became one of the University's most notable professors. In 1931, he received a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and a Rask- Oersted Fellowship that took him to the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen for the next two years. He was one of the world's leading figures in infrared spectroscopy, engaging in research for the Navy during World War II that produced an infrared spectrograph so accurate it caused the Bureau of Standards to revise purity standards for short-chain hydrocarbons. When this building was built in 1948 to house the Research Institute, Nielsen became its director, assuming the role in September, 1949. He continued to teach physics until May 31, 1965 and thereafter served as a professor emeritus. The Research Institute Building was renamed Nielsen Hall in June of the same year, and Nielsen was made a George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus of Physics in 1968. He died on April 20, 1979, a man revered by students and renowned in his field. Many would agree with President George L. Cross that Nielsen was “perhaps the greatest scientist” ever affiliated with the University of Oklahoma.