Blaw-Knox

The Blaw-Knox buildings, named for the fabricators of the sheet-iron structures, were moved to Rensselaer from a naval base in Davisville, R.I. They were among several surplus buildings acquired by the Institute to meet the needs of an expanded student population after World War II. The Blaw-Knox buildings were erected in 1949 and used as laboratory space for graduate and faculty research in several departments. Deep pits were dug into the bedrock within each structure. One pit housed a betatron machine and the other a pool of water shielding a bank of radio-active cobalt. Blaw-Knox currently houses Risk Management & Loss Prevention and Radiation & Nuclear Safety.