Sheffield Scientific School

Founded in 1847, the Sheffield Scientific School was Yale’s pioneering center for applied science and engineering at a time when American higher education was just beginning to embrace STEM training. Its early campus grew along Hillhouse Avenue, where purpose-built laboratories and lecture halls—such as North and South Sheffield Halls, Winchester Hall, and Sloan—formed a distinct enclave separate from Yale College. Under the leadership of figures like Benjamin Silliman Jr. and William Henry Brewer, “Sheff” became nationally known for chemistry, geology, engineering, and industrial science, attracting students whose curriculum differed markedly from the classical education of Yale College. By the early 20th century, as Yale reorganized its academic structure, the Sheffield Scientific School’s programs were gradually absorbed into the newly formed Graduate School and the School of Engineering. Today, traces of the old Sheff campus survive in several Hillhouse buildings that continue to house STEM departments and administrative offices, and today’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall remains a namesake tribute to the original campus that sat on the building’s current footprint.