The Electrical Engineering Research Lab
Home to BCL

 

The following photos, while not contemporaneous with BCL (1958–1975), show the building in which BCL was housed: The Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory (EERL). Both photos show the west side of EERL with Burrill Avenue running north (left) and south in front of the building. EERL consisted of two main wings—originally two different buildings—linked by a corridor over Boneyard Creek. Each wing had a smaller annex (obscured in these photos), creating on the building's east side a courtyard through which the Boneyard flowed. BCL's address was 216 EERL (actually the building's first floor), and it was in the south wing. Heinz von Foerster's office overlooked the east courtyard and the Boneyard. EERL also housed labs for vacuum tubes, computers, semiconductors, acoustics, and antennas. In addition to von Foerster, noted researchers such as Joseph Tykociner, John Bardeen, and Nick Holonyak Jr. have called EERL home.

EERL in the early 1950s, before BCL and before the elm trees lining Burrill Avenue were killed by Dutch Elm disease. Click the image for high res.

EERL in 1992, long after the demise of BCL and shortly before the building was demolished to create the open space that would later be dedicated as Bardeen Quadrangle. Click the image for high res.