Memories of Bowdoin’s Searles Hall remind me that physics is about the future | Opinion
Former Bowdoin Physics Historian Reflects on Searles Hall’s Transformation
Mark Hineline, a visiting scholar in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego, spent two years at Bowdoin College teaching a course titled “Physics of the Twentieth Century.” A historian of science by training, Hineline’s appointment came after a period of growth in the department, when historians of science were in demand to provide a solid grounding in physics for students studying the evolution of scientific ideas.
During his tenure, Hineline was given a tour of Bowdoin’s Searles Hall, the college’s historic physics building. He recalled the building as it stood in 1992, the year he began teaching the course. The tour included a room that had once served as an attic‑space training area for U.S. Navy navigators during World War II. The upstairs room still contained tables covered with nautical charts, dividers, and parallel rules, relics of a time when the Navy collaborated with the college to provide navigational instruction.
Hineline also noted other historical artifacts that had once been part of the campus experience. Among them was a “geyser” apparatus in the basement used to demonstrate principles of geophysical thermodynamics—a device that once provided an entertaining demonstration for undergraduates. The lecture theater’s anteroom housed a collection of lantern slides, early precursors to the carousel and PowerPoint presentations now common in academia. The slides had long awaited a lecturer to bring them to life, and Hineline’s background in the history of geology and science made him particularly interested in their potential.
The two‑year stint also included a brief incident in which Hineline requested a key to the machine shop. The department chair, after being informed that such requests were common among external visitors, quickly reversed the decision, reaffirming that Hineline was an insider.
A decade after leaving Bowdoin, Hineline returned to find Searles Hall largely gutted and updated. Many of the historical artifacts, including the Navy training room, the geyser apparatus, and the lantern slide collection, were no longer present. He did not inquire about the specific fate of these items, noting that his focus had shifted to other academic appointments.
Hineline reflected on the balance between preserving institutional memory and advancing academic inquiry. He emphasized that physics, like all sciences, moves forward by building on its history but remains oriented toward future discoveries. He described “antiquarianism” as a tendency to over‑glorify the past, a perspective he acknowledges but does not endorse as essential to contemporary scholarship.
In the end, Hineline sees the legacy of Searles Hall and its historical artifacts as a memory to inform future teaching and research. Though the physical remnants have been replaced, the stories and experiences they embodied continue to inspire those who study the evolution of science and technology at Bowdoin College.
