The University of Virginia’s chemical hearth has stepped into history.

The American Chemical Society officially designated the hearth, designed by University founder Thomas Jefferson and John Emmet, his first professor of natural sciences, as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Built in the 1820s, then sealed in the walls of the Rotunda in the 1840s, the hearth was exposed during the recent renovations and is now on permanent display.

In a ceremony Friday in the Rotunda’s Lower East Oval Room, representatives of the chemical society, UVA’s Department of Chemistry and its Division of Facilities Management gathered to unveil a plaque citing the hearth and Emmet’s contributions to chemical education. 

“Chemistry has never been a science that you can learn only by studying a book. It has been, and always will be, an experimental science where discoveries and learning come through hands-on lab work,” Jill Venton, chair of the UVA Chemistry Department, said during the ceremony.