The basic structure of the original Wilder Laboratory is still intact today and used for research and teaching. The Nichols radiometer in its original bell
jar is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. A number of artifacts (galvanometers, Wheatstone bridges, ruling engines, etc) used by
Nichols and Hull are preserved in the King Collection of historic physics instruments at Dartmouth [see Pantalony, Kremer and Manasek, Study, Measure,
Experiment: Stories of Scientific Instruments at Dartmouth College (2005)]. The original log books of the Nichols-Hull experiment are preserved in the
Rauner Library in Hanover.
Ernest Fox Nichols was awarded the Rumford Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1904 "for his research on radiation, particularly on the
pressure due to radiation, the heat of the stars, and the infrared spectrum." He played a very significant role in American science and education through
his activities at the National Academy of Sciences, the Presidencies of Dartmouth and of MIT, and as Director of Pure Science at the original GE research
laboratories in Cleveland, Ohio.
Albert Einstein and Ernest Fox Nichols, together at GE's Nela Park, Cleveland, Ohio. (photo courtesy of Dartmouth Archives)
