Armsby Respiration Calorimeter – You’ve walked past when on campus and perhaps wondered what that “little” building might hold. In this episode of "Found in Collections," we take a peek inside This Penn State Ag Hill icon to see this historic instrument used in animal nutrition research from 1902 through the 1960s. 

Research in animal nutrition began at Penn State at the turn of the 20th century, which is when Henry P. Armsby built the Armsby Calorimeter. The nutrition experiment station allowed Armsby to measure how much energy an animal was able to derive from a certain food source, measuring respiration, feed intake, water intake, and any excrement from the animal. From this, Armsby was able to accurately calculate rations for beef cattle and sheep. After experiments were concluded with livestock animals, the calorimeter was then used to measure the role of protein in the human diet. The Armsby Calorimeter remains standing on campus today.