Йель университетінің құпия қоғамы: Berzelius тарихы

Secret society at Yale University, US

Berzelius is a secret society at Yale University named for the Swedish scientist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, considered one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry.

Founded in 1848, 'BZ', as the society is called often, is the third oldest society at Yale and the oldest of those of the now defunct Sheffield Scientific School, the institution which from 1854 to 1956 was the sciences and engineering college of Yale University. Berzelius became a senior society in the tradition of Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head in 1933 when the Sheffield Scientific School was integrated into Yale University. Book and Snake and St. Elmo, also societies from Sheffield, followed suit. Skull and Bones, founded in 1832, Scroll and Key, founded in 1841, and Wolf's Head, founded in 1883, catered to students in the Academic Department, or liberal arts college. The alumni trust organization, the 1848 Association, owns the society's building. Outsiders refer to the building as a 'tomb', the customary appellation for a secret society structure at Yale; however, many BZ members refer to their building as "The Hall." This is likely a transferred linguistic remnant of the tradition of the 'Sheff' secret societies, which had 'halls' for residential use and 'tombs' as separate meeting places, in contrast to the Yale College senior secret societies, which maintained only "tombs."

Donn Barber designed the current society building, completed in 1908 or 1910, and likened to a "blank cube" with classical ornamentation. Henry Bacon and James Brite designed a brick clad Neo Renaissance style dormitory, completed in 1898. (Bacon was an American Beaux Arts architect best known for having designed the Greek Doric Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, and built between 1915 and 1922, his final project.) Yale purchased the dormitory in 1933 for student housing, later using it for faculty offices before demolishing it in 1969 to facilitate construction of the Yale Health Services Center, 17 Hillhouse Avenue. Architectural historian Patrick L. Pinnell notes in Yale University that Berzelius sold to the Scroll and Key Society the site on which the latter erected its own tomb. Architectural historian Scott Meacham cites both Berzelius buildings in his study of Yale and Dartmouth society and fraternity architecture. The original building was built to resemble a Greek temple. The surviving ca. 1908 10 building's location, set off from the more active center of Yale's campus, lends privacy to Berzelius' members, and its unadorned largely blank exterior conveys to outsiders the deceptive sense that nothing much happens inside. In addition to the meeting room, dining area, and numerous study rooms, there are below ground activity rooms with a pool table and ping pong table for recreation. BZ recently underwent a major restoration. Will Schwalbe, American writer and businessman. Arnold Hague, a United States geologist who did many geological surveys in the U. S., of which the best known was that for Yellowstone National Park. William Proxmire, United States Senator (D) from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. An early critic of the Vietnam War, and an outspoken campaigner against wasteful government spending.