Wilmot Building

History of the Campuses and Buildings of the University of Rochester
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River Campus

Wilmot Building

Space Science Building


Plaque honoring James P. Wilmot	James Peter Wilmot

The University constructed a Space Science Building that opened in 1967 with support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Institute of Optics moved into the building in 1977 and it was named after James P. Wilmot in 1980. The James P. Wilmot Cancer Center in the Medical Center is also named for him.

The construction of the Space Science Building required the demolition of the Trevor Observatory and its telescope, which had been moved from the Prince Street Campus in 1956. Although the C.E.K. Mees Observatory had been built in 1965, another observatory was built on top of the Space Science building housing a 14” Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on an equatorial mount.

In 2007 the Robert B. Goergen Hall for Biomedical Engineering and Optics was built adjacent to Wilmot and wrapped around the south and east sides of the building.

References
1967 "Construction to Begin on UR Space Center," Democrat and Chronicle, January 6, 1967, Page 13.

1967 "NASA Shares Expense With University For Constructing Space Science Center," Campus Times, September 15, 1967, Page 1.

1969 "Construction Nears Finishing In Science Building, Library," Campus Times, February 4, 1969, Page 3.

1969 "Oct. 28 to Mark Dedication of Space Science Building," Campus Times, October 24, 1969, Page 1.

1970 "A History of The Institute of Optics," Applied Optics, by R. Kingslake and H.G. Kingslake, Applied Optics 9(4):789–796 (1970)

1970 "Space Science Center Cites for Laboratory Design," Campus Times, May 12, 1970, Page 8.

1980 "UR to name building for J.P. Wilmot," Democrat and Chronicle, July 19, 1980, Page 1B.

1980 "James P. Wilmot dies at 68," Democrat and Chronicle, August 10, 1980, Page 3. | Part 2 |

1980 "James P. Wilmot, 68, a Founder In Fields of Aviation and Building; Entered Aviation in 1938," The New York Times, August 21, 1980, Section B, Page 17.
James P. Wilmot, who was chairman of the board of both Page Airways Inc. and Wilmorite Inc., a construction company, died of cancer Tuesday at his 500-acre farm in Mendon, a suburb of Rochester. He was 68 years old.

1977 History of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962, by Arthur J. May. Expanded edition with notes
Chapter 36, River Campus Panorama
And the desirability of setting up a space science center came under serious study (1962).