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COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
WWII & Columbia
Although far removed
from the battlegrounds
of Europe, Africa and
Asia, Columbia played
a significant role in
WWII. Pupin Physics
Laboratories on the
Morningside Heights
campus was the site of
the Manhattan Project,
where the development of
the atomic bomb began.
Approximately 24,000
men graduated from
the U.S. Naval Reserve
Midshipmen’s School at
Columbia during WWII,
meaning more officers
were trained during that
time in New York than at
the U.S. Naval Academy
in Annapolis, Md.
(Left, top) The academic
procession at
Commencement in
1944 makes its way
up the steps of Low
Plaza between lines
of uniformed midshipmen
standing at attention
and civilians in
academic dress. (Left,
bottom) V-12 students
in naval dress race to
class in Hamilton Hall
in 1943. (Opposite)
Students stand guard
with binoculars and
fire extinguishers atop
Butler Library (then
called South Hall) during
an air raid drill in
December 1941.
PHOTOS: (LEFT, TOP)
1944 COLUMBIAN; (LEFT,
BOTTOM) COURTESY
BERNARD SUNSHINE
’46; (OPPOSITE) JACK
M. LEWIS ’42, ’43E, ALL
COURTESY COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
SUMMER 2013
42