Harvard’s Science Center will be renamed Zimmer Hall in recognition of a $100 million gift from the Zimmer Family Foundation in 2018, the University announced on Friday.
The building on Oxford Street — which houses the Mathematics, Statistics, and History of Science departments, as well as Cabot Science Library and the Pritzker Commons — has kept the same name since it opened in 1973. At the time of its construction, it was the largest building built ever by the University.
The new name will honor Alan Zimmer, the late father of Stuart Zimmer ’91. Alan Zimmer was a neuroradiologist whose work helped advance the development and use of computer axial tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in the United States.
“We are profoundly grateful to Stuart and Jennifer Zimmer for their remarkable generosity and delighted they have chosen to honor Alan Zimmer’s legacy,” University President Alan M. Garber ’76 said in a press release. “They have strengthened Harvard’s ability to advance deeper scientific understanding and innovative scholarship.”
Garber also said Stuart and Jennifer Zimmer were instrumental in helping Harvard implement recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias to support Jewish students on campus.
The Zimmer family’s support will also fund enhancements to kosher dining on campus, including expanded menu variety and kosher dining at Eliot House after its renewal project is complete. Harvard separately expanded kosher dining options at Harvard Hillel, the Quad, and Annenberg in 2024.
“And in establishing kosher dining at Eliot House, we hope to ensure that every Jewish student feels genuinely welcomed and at home on campus; that this place becomes a hub of tradition, belonging, and pride for years to come,” Stuart Zimmer said in the release.
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Zimmer Hall has nine stories, a basement level, and a rooftop observatory. It includes five large lecture halls, 16 smaller general-use classrooms, and offices for faculty and staff. The building also houses the three-story, 200,000-volume Cabot Science Library, and the Pritzker Commons, which connects the library to a cafe space and outdoor courtyard.
Since the Zimmer Family Foundation’s gift, Harvard has made several renovations to the building. In summer 2018, the University upgraded HVAC systems in Lecture Halls C and D. In December 2023, Harvard began a broader renovation project that included roughly 20,000 square feet of new classrooms, labs, and office space.
Four teaching labs on the ground and second floors — which serve science courses — were also redeveloped, with glass walls added to make lab work more visible to passersby.
In summer 2024, Harvard closed Lecture Halls A and B for additional renovations, adding seating, carpeting, and handrails. But some students said that fall that the changes were hard to notice.
The building is adjacent to the Science Center Plaza, a 2.3-acre open community space with food trucks, seasonal programming, and public seating. Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development spokesperson Cameron Wolfsen declined to comment on whether the name change would extend to the Science Center Plaza.
—Staff writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @samrudavsky.
