MIT at 150
The Next Century Convocation

On April 10, thousands of members of the MIT community assembled at the Boston Convention Center to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the day the Institute received its charter (see “A Sesquicentennial Fete,”). Former chancellor Philip Clay, PhD ‘75, a professor of city planning and senior advisor to President Hockfield, and Institute Professor Sheila Widnall ‘60, SM ‘61, ScD ‘64, the first woman to serve as secretary of the U.S. Air Force, were two of the many Institute luminaries who addressed the gathering. The MIT Symphony Orchestra, the MIT Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus, the Rambax MIT Senegalese Drum Ensemble, and others performed a wide range of music, including several world premieres and a jazzed-up version of “Arise All Ye of MIT.” President Susan Hockfield also led a group of Institute leaders in signing a charter of renewal for the next century—using an iPad. (“A quill and parchment might have been easier,” she quipped.) Watch videos of the event at techtv.mit.edu/collections/150-events:1807.

Open House
On April 30, MIT opened its doors for Under the Dome, the Institute’s first campuswide open house in three decades. “Roughly 20,000 guests flocked to our campus, and you showed them wonderful things, including the fact that MIT is a place of confidence, excellence, enthusiasm, joy—and the occasional flash mob,” President Susan Hockfield told the MIT community in an e-mail. Matthew Honickman, a freshman studying mechanical engineering, rides a homemade Segway in Rockwell Cage. Visitors inspect a Terrafugia flying car, designed by Carl Dietrich ‘99, SM ‘03, PhD ‘07. Eight-year old Dylan reacts to a demonstration of electromagnetism. Tim the Beaver escorts President Hockfield through Lobby 7 shortly after a flash-mob dance performance began there and spilled out onto Mass. Ave., where it (briefly) stopped traffic. And children posed for photos in a space suit at the Aero Astro lab. For more on the open house, see “Under the Dome.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.