Special Feature—City of Stars

Bronx High School of Science

HUMANITIES PROTECTING BIOLOGY, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY Frank Reilly; Venetian glass mosaic Bronx High School of Science 75 West 205th Street Bronx

Few secondary schools enjoy the academic reputation of the Bronx High School of Science. Apart from the legions of medical doctors, statesmen, Ph.D. academicians, and inventors among its alumni, the school boasts five Nobel laureates. All five—Leon N. Cooper, Sheldon L. Glashow, Steven Weinberg, Melvin Schwartz, and Russell A. Hulse—were awarded the prize in the category of physics.

It’s rumored that when the school (founded in 1938) acquired a new, state-of-the-art building back in 1959, the student body was consulted about using available funds either on an indoor pool for the swimming team or on inspirational art. They chose the art.

At the beginning and end of every school day, 3,000 students walk under the mosaic likenesses of scientists whose discoveries in biology, chemistry, and physics forever altered our intellectual relationship to nature.

Entrance to Bronx High School of Science

The artist, Frank Reilly, juxtaposed images of the scientists with icons of their laboratories and cosmic discoveries to complete this monument to human ingenuity. Beneath the mosaic are the words of American philosopher and educator John Dewey: "Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination." The placement and posture of each figure in the work lend them an almost biblical majesty—the apostles of science, canonized by the Bronx High School of Science.

And what became of the swim team? They practice and compete at the pool of DeWitt Clinton High School, a block away.

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