New University of Tennessee building honors Body Farm founder

9/28/2011

The University of Tennessee is honoring Dr. William M. Bass, who founded the Body Farm research center, with a new building that bears his name.

The new forensic anthropology building was dedicated Tuesday on the Knoxville campus of UT. Funding included gifts from Bass and his family. Crime novelist Lisa Gardner of New Hampshire also donated to the building project.

The Body Farm — officially the Anthropological Research Facility — studies decomposition of corpses in a variety of circumstances to aid scientific and criminal research.

Bass joined UT in 1971 and his department became one of the top research facilities in the nation.

Bass is now half of a writing team with journalist Jon Jefferson, writing as Jefferson Bass, which produces best-selling novels.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel