Lincoln Hall Project
War and the New Era
War and Research
Keeping Armies on the Move
Campus researchers tackled a variety of subjects related to the war effort, including anti-malarial drugs, how to remove chemicals from water, food and nutrition, plastics, alloys, concrete, airplane wings, enamels, and munitions. But the most important was the University’s research contributions in the ambitious Synthetic Rubber Project. The project came about as the Japanese cut off supplies of natural rubber early in the war, threatening stockpiles of tires, rubber-soled boots, and other essential materials. Government, industry, and universities worked together to come up with a substitute. The University of Illinois, led by chemist Carl “Speed” Marvel, became a key player—receiving the most funding of any university for the project—in the effort that eventually produced hundreds of thousands of tons of synthetic rubber.
New Roles in Research and the World
The war and its aftermath helped open the University of Illinois to the world. Historian John Thelin notes that the cooperation between the federal government and universities during the war opened the door for continued collaborations afterward. The federal government laid the groundwork for programs such as the National Science Foundation, which awards grants to university researchers through the present day. Illinois and other universities became more firmly established as research centers. The Department of Astronomy at Illinois, for example, began tracking U.S. and Soviet satellites after the launch of Sputnik I, which generated federal funding that eventually led to the Vermillion River Observatory and a radio astronomy program. A growing awareness of America’s place in the world emerged, too, with courses in English as a second language beginning in 1947, and a Latin American studies major established in 1949.
