ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the history of the physical laboratory in the Owens college. The major changes in the physics discipline at Owens which were elaborated during the 1870s and 1880s. The Green-wood-Roscoe report of 1868 is a major reason for these changes. University status gave new impetus in 1881 to Henry Roscoe's original plan for a professorship in applied mathematics as a complement to those already established in physics. Roscoe's choice was his former student, Arthur Schuster. Schuster was older, more experienced, and possessed a track record worthy of close examination. Under Schuster's direction, the physical laboratory was an exciting place. In 1897, when an anonymous donor gave a substantial sum of money towards the erection of a new laboratory, Schuster easily convinced the council to approve the building. The new laboratory was to rank fourth in the world in size, behind Johns Hopkins, Darmstadt, and Strass-burg.
