Maloney Hall
Encyclopedia
The Martin Maloney Chemical Laboratory of The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...

 was built in November, 1917. Maloney Hall was named for Martin Maloney, a papal marquis from Philadelphia, Pa., who gave $120,000 for main building and $100,000 for the auditorium.

It underwent renovations and extensions in 1926. Currently, the building is being used as a Chemical Laboratory for the University. It houses the Department of Chemistry, classrooms, laboratories and an auditorium. When it was first built it served as a lab for army researchers developing chemical munitions for World War I.

Recently, students at the Catholic University of America received an e-mail from the University's Office of Public Affairs informing students that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be "collecting samples to test for the possible existence of environmental contaminants in and around Maloney Hall." Maloney Hall is the laboratory where the chemical weapon Lewisite
Lewisite
Lewisite is an organoarsenic compound, specifically an arsine. It was once manufactured in the U.S. and Japan as a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant and lung irritant...

 was first invented by Julius Nieuwland
Julius Nieuwland
Reverend Julius Aloysius Nieuwland, CSC, Ph.D., was a Belgian-born Holy Cross priest and professor of chemistry and botany at the University of Notre Dame...

and later Winford Lee Lewis, with the help of CUA and Army researchers, developed it into chemical weapon.

Students were told that, "The contractors will be collecting soil samples outside and paint samples in Maloney Hall to test for any residual byproducts, primarily arsenic, that may have broken down from chemical munitions that were developed at Maloney in 1918."

The University and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintain that there is no risk to the students of the university, but the contractors working on the project will be wearing protective gear and that they will "establish a buffer zone around the outdoor sample collection area to protect passers-by."

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK