Sterling Hall Bombing

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A policeman stands in front of Sterling Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus. Early on August 24th, 1970, a van loaded with six barrels of explosives blew up just outside the East Wing of Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. The bombing was carried out by four men in protest of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The four men responsible were, Karl Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, David Fine and Leo Burt. Unfortunately, despite an attempt to detonate the bomb when the building was vacant, a physics researcher conducting research unrelated to Army Math Research Center, was killed in the explosion. The sobering impact of Robert Fassnacht's death brought a sudden halt to the violence to which anti-war protesters and police had resorted. The bombing was directed against the Mathematics Research Center, a U.S.-Army-funded facility, which was located in the East Wing of Sterling Hall along with the physics and astronomy departments. "Army Math," as it was known, was despised by many antiwar activists who felt the center was contributing to the death and destruction in Southeast Asia through its research and had no place on a public university campus.