Wet, Heavy Snow Breaks Science Center Skylight

Shards of window pane crashed to the floor of the Science Center's main corridor yesterday morning after a cascade of snow falling from the roof smashed through a skylight.

"It sounded like an explosion," said Werner Prudent, who was working at the Seattle's Best Coffee stand at the time of the accident.

According to Harvard University Police Lieutenant Lawrence J. Murphy, the crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. No one was injured, he said.

"[Students] were already in class, thank God," said John B. Mathers, the Science Center's assistant director.

Within several hours of the accident, repair workers removed the shards of glass which remained in the skylight and replaced three windows with plywood.

According to workers from the Facilities Maintenance Office (FMO), the snow that began falling Thursday piled into a heavy, wet drift that hung over the roof of the building.

Jim K. Sheehan, the FMO's supervisor on duty for the lab area, said the snow on top of the Science Center blew into drifts nearly four feet deep.

"There's a snow fence along the roof up there. The snow drifted over the fence and into the pocket," he said. "It built up until it collapsed."

Thomas Y. Wu '98 said he noticed the hanging snow from the third floor of the center.

"I saw the snow, and I thought, 'That's kind of dangerous,'" he said. "Then a few minutes later, it fell."

Students in lecture halls B and C heard the crash, but the classes were not interrupted.

"We hear construction workers usually, so it wasn't a big deal when we heard a big rumbling noise," said Suzanne C. Lye '98, who was sitting through a lecture for Chemistry 20: "Organic Chemistry" in lecture hall B at the time of the accident.

Three Harvard police units responded to the crash. Officers closed off the long corridor on the first floor of the Science Center as well as the open area at the bottom of the stairs.

"We don't want to take the risk of one coming down in another area," Murphy said.

Some sections due to meet at 10 a.m. were canceled because class-rooms along the corridor were inaccessible. The hallway was reopened shortly before 11 a.m.

This is not the first time that winter weather has broken skylights in the Science Center. According to Mathers, falling icicles broke windows when the center first opened in 1973.

Mathers added that the Science Center skylights are made of Lexan, a super-strong plastic used to make bulletproof windows

Three Harvard police units responded to the crash. Officers closed off the long corridor on the first floor of the Science Center as well as the open area at the bottom of the stairs.

"We don't want to take the risk of one coming down in another area," Murphy said.

Some sections due to meet at 10 a.m. were canceled because class-rooms along the corridor were inaccessible. The hallway was reopened shortly before 11 a.m.

This is not the first time that winter weather has broken skylights in the Science Center. According to Mathers, falling icicles broke windows when the center first opened in 1973.

Mathers added that the Science Center skylights are made of Lexan, a super-strong plastic used to make bulletproof windows