I decided that today I missed University and crossed the Harvard Bridge to attend MIT for a day.
Unfortunately, it's summer break. So I couldn't actually attend MIT. Instead, I started at the MIT Museum, which showcases history of technology and some of the inventions of the students. It was great, interactive experience of the history of robotics and information technology. I really enjoyed the museum - particularly being able to make a circuit on a piece of paper. It's a great activity for young children too. I also watched a video about robot soccer from 1999. It was funny watching the old school inter-uni robotics compared to the Newcastle Uni NUBots team today.
Robot Tuna
Kismet!
There was also a section on artistic engineering sculptures. I love these sculptures, they're so novel and completely useless. The best part was how interactive the machines were. There were walking chicken bones, bouncing chairs and lots of gearing systems.
The motor turns the gear on the far left, but because of the gearing, the one embedded in the concrete block on the right doesn't really move.
Information on the above sculpture
The last place I visited in the museum was the photography section. Here, we learned about the different impacts lighting and timing have on the outcome of the photos, and how these techniques have been used to make interesting discoveries about nature - such as the famous pictures of milk drops and bullets through apples and balloons.
Bubbles under light
Strobe Lighting - makes the water float backwards
I bought some more shirts at the shop, because they were funny. I'm basically bringing home a new pile of shirts. Going to need a new shirt drawer.
I then joined an on campus tour. Nicole who showed us around is a graduate student studying Robotics. We stopped by a dorm room and it was HUGE! Our entire tour group could walk a lap of the room without being crammed in, even with two beds, closets and large desks. We also saw their free student gym and heard about mandatory physical activity classes and humanities classes. It is the belief on which MIT was founded is that each student needs to be well-rounded to contribute to the community.
The seal of MIT - showing the balance of science and arts
A dorm room for two - ONLY FOR TWO
As part of their gymnasium, there is a functioning ice rink. In summer, they convert it into an area that the robotics students can test their inventions
The MIT Chapel - the light bounces off the moat around it under the archways
The famous dome - a site of a lot of "hacks"
The environmental science building - so tall that you can take a different pressure measurement at the ground, middle and top floors
As mentioned above, MIT is infamous for its hacks. Hacks are harmless pranks that have no known source is unknown. Famous ones include a mock police car being put on the dome over night, a fire hydrant water fountain and tetris being played on the windows of the environmental science building. We also were told what a Smoot was - when one of the fraternities was pranking the bridge they decided to measure it by the height of their smallest member, Oliver Smoot, so the bridge is 364.4 Smoots long, plus or minus one ear (for accuracy). Later on my all knowing brother tells me that Mr Smoot is now the President of the International Standards Organisation.
The fire hydrant fountain
The police car, which was double hacked when one of the MIT campus cops was killed in the Boston bombings
Overall, MIT seems like a great place. It wasn't as magical as I thought, but you can tell its much better funded than Australian Universities. I wouldn't mind attending one day, perhaps as a graduate.
Tomorrow I'm very excited to attending my first ever baseball game. I'll also be discovering Boston through the red brick freedom trail. But we'll both find out all about it tomorrow. Until then, it's time to get some sleep. There's still a long way to go.
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