MIT Story

Astrophysicist Andrea Ghez ’87 shares half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel, “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy.” The other half of the prize was awarded to Roger Penrose, “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.”

On July 30, a two-week window of opportunity opens for Perseverance — the newest Mars rover, forged in the spirit of human curiosity — to begin its journey toward the Red Planet with a launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Launch Center on the eastern Florida coast. With MIT’s help, this latest NASA mission will build upon the legacy of its roving laboratory predecessors and dig deeper than ever before into questions about life on Mars. 

With the Covid-19 pandemic scattering students around the globe, Minecraft — a sandbox style game akin to digital LEGO — has served as a creative and cathartic outlet for some students while they are physically away from campus, while also providing the entire community with some sense of stability.

Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, MIT economists whose work has helped transform antipoverty research and relief efforts, have been named co-winners of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, along with another co-winner, Harvard University economist Michael Kremer.

An international team of over 200 astronomers, including scientists from MIT’s Haystack Observatory, has captured the first direct images of a black hole. They accomplished this remarkable feat by coordinating the power of eight major radio observatories on four continents, to work together as a virtual, Earth-sized telescope.

By exposing mice to a unique combination of light and sound, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can improve cognitive and memory impairments similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s patients. This noninvasive treatment, which works by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, also greatly reduced the number of amyloid plaques found in the brains of these mice. Plaques were cleared in large swaths of the brain, including areas critical for cognitive functions such as learning and memory.

An MIT-led research team has developed a drug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin, potentially replacing the injections that people with type 1 diabetes have to give themselves every day.

MIT announced a new $1 billion commitment to address the global opportunities and challenges presented by the prevalence of computing and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). The initiative marks the single largest investment in computing and AI by an American academic institution, and will help position the United States to lead the world in preparing for the rapid evolution of computing and AI. At the heart of this endeavor will be the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, made possible by a $350 million foundational gift from Mr. Schwarzman, the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, a leading global asset manager.

Since it was conceived as an online offering in 2012, the MITx massive open online course (MOOC), Introduction to Computer Science using Python, has become the most popular MOOC in MIT history with 1.2 million enrollments to date.

Development of fusion power — potentially an inexhaustible and zero-carbon source of energy — is on a faster track toward realization, thanks to a collaboration between MIT and a new private company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. CFS will join with MIT to carry out rapid, staged research leading to a new generation of fusion experiments and power plants based on advances in high-temperature superconductors — work made possible by decades of federal government funding for basic research.

MIT’s first president, William Barton Rogers, possessed enslaved persons in his Virginia household until the early 1850s, roughly a decade before he founded the Institute, according to new research from an MIT history class scholars and administrators designed to examine the legacy of slavery in relationship to the university. MIT intends the new findings about Rogers to form the basis of a community dialogue about the Institute and the legacy of slavery.

For the first time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space-time — in addition to light from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. This marks the first time that a cosmic event has been viewed in both gravitational waves and light. The discovery was made using the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO); the Europe-based Virgo detector; and some 70 ground- and space-based observatories. The National Science Foundation-funded LIGO observatories were conceived, constructed, and operated by Caltech and MIT. 

Michael Rosbash, who earned his PhD from MIT in 1971, shares the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Jeffrey C. Hall of the University of Maine and Michael W. Young of Rockefeller University. The scientists were honored for “their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.”

The new building (W97), located in a former warehouse, consolidates all theater activities under one roof. The 25,000-square-foot space contains a 180-seat, two-story blackbox performance space, rehearsal spaces, costume and scene design shops, dressing rooms, and spaces for study, offices, and exhibitions.

Scratch, released in 2007, is a free programming tool for children aged 8-16 to create animations, games, music, and interactive stories. It’s also an online community where children can share their projects and collaborate with one another. Over the past decade, more than 18 million people have joined the Scratch online community, from every country in the world except on the continent of Antarctica. Scratchers have shared more than 22 million projects, with 30,000 new ones every day.

MIT signed an agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to redevelop the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, with aims of turning the federally owned 14-acre parcel in Kendall Square into a more vibrant mixed-use site that will benefit MIT’s mission and the Cambridge community.

Using LED lights flickering at a specific frequency, MIT researchers have shown that they can substantially reduce the beta amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease, in the visual cortex of mice. This treatment appears to work by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, which the researchers discovered help the brain suppress beta amyloid production and invigorate cells responsible for destroying the plaques. Further research will be needed to determine if a similar approach could help Alzheimer’s patients, says Li-Huei Tsai, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and senior author of the study.

Bengt Holmström, the Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics at MIT and faculty member in the MIT Sloan School of Management, won a share of the 2016 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Oliver Hart, a professor and economist at Harvard University. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited Holmström and Hart for “their contributions to contract theory.” In the late 1970s, Holmström demonstrated how contracts should be designed to weigh risks and incentives, as well as how they should link pay to performance.

More than 40,000 people attended Under the Dome, MIT’s first open house since 2011. Nearly 80 departments and labs hosted more than 380 activities across campus, including research demonstrations, special lectures, and visits to labs and classrooms.

The Solve conference, produced by MIT Technology Review, brought more than 350 leaders in technology, philanthropy, business, and policy to campus for four days of talks, workshops, and discussions on pressing global problems. The event was based around four key “pillars” — Learn, Cure, Fuel, and Make — that categorized issues and questions around education, health care, resources, and infrastructure.

Paul Modrich ’68 has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on DNA repair mechanisms. He shares the Nobel Prize with Tomas Lindahl of the Francis Crick Institute in the United Kingdom and Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Modrich is the 33rd MIT alumnus to win a Nobel Prize, and the 85th MIT-connected winner of the prize.

The Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) spans all five MIT schools and offers a range of cross-disciplinary academic programs. IDSS uses tools and methodologies in statistics, information and decision systems, and social sciences to address challenges and opportunities in complex systems. IDSS research encompasses a variety of domains, including finance, social networks, urbanization, energy systems, and health analytics.

Renewal of the Chapel is completed, restoring this iconic example of Eero Saarinen’s mid-20th century modern architecture. The project involves repairing and restoring stained glass walls, replacing the roof, repointing brick, and rebuilding the central skylight. The surrounding moat is also rebuilt and upgraded. Inside, major systems are replaced, and the wood and travertine surfaces are renewed and refinished.

MIT received a major gift from alumnus Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel ’78 aimed at ensuring the world’s food and water supply for the 21st century. The gift establishes the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS), named in honor of Mr. Jameel’s late father, to spearhead research that will help humankind adapt to a rapidly changing planet and combat world-wide water and food-supply scarcity.

Beginning fall 2014, the Department of Civil and Environmental (CEE) will offer a new Course 1 flexible undergraduate program, 1-ENG, which will give students the flexibility of designing their unique and challenging educational programs to suit their individual interests, career goals, and aspirations. Any track can be created by combining Course 1 foundational courses with the core subject areas of mechanics and materials, environmental engineering science, and systems — or any combination of these.

MIT’s Lobby 10 was renamed “Memorial Lobby” to commemorate MIT alumni who have given their lives in wartime as members of the military services. The lobby’s walls bear engraved memorials listing fallen alumni from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Edmund Bertschinger, head of the Department of Physics, was appointed MIT’s first Institute Community and Equity Officer. In this role, he will focus on matters of community, equity, inclusion and diversity on campus.

The Priscilla King Gray Award was established by the Undergraduate Association and the Public Service Center to recognize an undergraduate for his or her public service at MIT and its surrounding communities. Priscilla Gray is the wife of Paul Gray’54, MIT’s 14th president.

Sanjay Sarma, the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was appointed MIT's first director of digital learning. In this role, he works closely with the Institute's faculty, staff and students to assess how new models of online instruction—such as edX, MITx and other online tools that enhance students' educational experiences—might become integral parts of MIT students' on-campus education.

L. Rafael Reif, a distinguished electrical engineer, entered into office as seventeenth president of MIT. President Reif's seven-year tenure as MIT's provost helped the Institute maintain its growth and firm financial footing. Reif also led creation of MITx, the Institute's initiative in online learning, and edX, the new partnership between MIT and Harvard University.

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The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), a collaboration with MIT and Zhejiang University in China, marked the start of its first academic year. SUTD is the first university in the world to integrate concepts of design and innovation as a common thread in education, research and entrepreneurship. SUTD will include the International Design Center as a focus of its research activities.

The first MITx prototype course, 6.002x: Circuits and Electronics, runs free of charge for students worldwide. Modeled after MIT's 6.002, an introductory course in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, it introduces engineering in the context of the lumped circuit abstraction, helping students make the transition from physics to the fields of electrical engineering and computer science.

The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) in Holyoke, MA, is completed. A joint venture funded by the state, MIT, the University of Massachusetts, Boston University, Northeastern University, Harvard University, and computer giants Cisco Systems and EMC Corporation, the MGHPCC is designed to house (and keep cool) 20,000 computers or more working closely together to solve computationally complex problems too large for standard computers.

MIT announced the MITx online learning initiative, which offers a selection of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform. MITx will enhance the educational experience of on-campus students by offering online tools to supplement the classroom and laboratory experience. It operates on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure that will be readily available to other educational institutions.

MIT and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SIST) announced a unique graduate university that will integrate advanced research, education and entrepreneurship. MIT faculty will help define the structure and organization of SIST and its educational and research programs. Emphasis will be put on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Adam Riess '92 shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Brian Schmidt of University of California at Berkeley and Saul Perlmutter of Australian National University. Riess, who made important observations of distant supernovae, was part of Schmidt's international High-z Supernova Search Team. Riess is the 77th MIT-connected winner of the Nobel Prize.

Fariborz Maseeh Hall was unveiled after a two-year renovation. Originally built as the Riverbank Court Hotel in 1901, the building was acquired by MIT in 1937 and opened as a graduate residence in 1938. It was later named Ashdown House. The renovated building is named in recognition of Fariborz Maseeh ScD '90.

President Barack Obama named President Susan Hockfield as co-chair the administration's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a national effort to bring together industry, universities and the federal government to help US manufacturers improve the cost, quality and speed of production.

Building E62 opens as the Sloan School of Management’s new home. By design, it provides a nexus for academic and social exchange, to promote collaboration and enhance research efforts. E62 achieves LEED Gold certification with sustainable features that include a high-performance building envelope, partial green roof, low-wattage lighting, and occupancy sensor controls. Its underground garage supports Zipcars and bicycle commuters.

MIT celebrates Charter Day with The Next Century Convocation at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

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Eric Grimson PhD '80, head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, enters into office as MIT's new chancellor.

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MIT's 150th anniversary celebrations begin.

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MIT Professor Peter A. Diamond PhD '63 received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of markets with search frictions, which roughly equates to any setting in which buyers and sellers don't easily find one another. He shared the award with two other recipients.

MIT issues a report by its Initiative on Faculty Race and Diversity that provides important findings about how race affects the recruitment, retention, professional opportunities and collegial experiences of Black, Hispanic and Native American professors at MIT.

MIT launches the Inventing Our Future website to promote an increasingly inclusive community. Faculty, students, staff and alumni are invited to add resources, share stories and participate in dialogue and action.

MIT's News Office publishes the final issue of Tech Talk and launches a new daily website, MIT News.

MIT faculty adopt a policy to make their scholarly articles available to the public for free on the web. This unanimous vote aims to broaden access to MIT's research and scholarship.

Lincoln Laboratory, building on its expertise in sensors and architectures, developed and demonstrated the Lincoln Distributed Disaster Response System, which enables information from airborne platforms, distributed weather stations, GPS-enabled devices, and other sources to be shared by responders at the emergency command centers and by those equipped with ruggedized laptops at the front lines. The system design initially focused on fighting a large-scale fire but is also applicable for any large-scale disaster response.

The MIT Libraries open the Maihaugen Gallery to showcase rare documents, photographs, books, maps and artwork from the Libraries' unique collections.

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The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) gigapixel focal plane array is powered on.

The first MIT building to receive LEED Gold certification, the new Ashdown House opens as a graduate residence, offering a mix of living options to house more than 440 students. Its sustainable design features include an irrigation system that uses reclaimed rainwater, abundant natural light, water-efficient showers and appliances, and heat recovery wheels on HVAC units.

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While at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, MIT Professor Susan Solomon and her IPCC colleagues received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures needed to counteract such change. They shared the award with former Vice President Al Gore.

For the first time, MIT enters the U.S. Department of Energy's annual Solar Decathlon, a village of 20 off-grid solar homes built by college students to be assembled and open to the public on the National Mall in Washington.

MIT and Abu Dhabi announced the creation of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a graduate educational and research institute designed to be the centerpiece of a multifaceted, regional development program promoting advanced energy and sustainable technologies.

The report is made by the Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational Commons to the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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MIT opens the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex – the largest neuroscience center in the world. To support interdisciplinary research and teaching, the Complex integrates the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences with the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. The LEED Silver-certified mixed-use facility is designed to foster groundbreaking collaborations, and its construction revitalizes Vassar Street with new trees, lighting, paving, and bicycle lanes.

MIT Professor Richard R. Schrock received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of a chemical reaction used in the chemical industry for the efficient and environmentally friendly production of pharmaceuticals, fuels, synthetic fibers and many other products. He shared the award with two other recipients.

MIT Professor Frank Wilczek received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theory of asymptotic freedom in quarks, which is key to interpreting most experimental studies involving modern particle accelerators. He shared the award with two other recipients.

The Ray and Maria Stata Center is completed. Designed by Frank Gehry, the unconventional building features tilting towers, many-angled walls, and whimsical shapes. Its beehive-like interior is equally unconventional, combining an indoor “street” and meandering layout with unprogrammed free-form spaces and laboratory “neighborhoods” to foster spontaneous connections and collaborations among its multidisciplinary occupants.

The MIT-Mexico Program is created within MISTI to send MIT students to Mexico for internships.

ERSA is developed by Lincoln Laboratory for the U.S. Air Force to provide improved defense of the airspace surrounding the National Capital Region. ERSA capabilities have improved airspace surveillance, threat assessment and decision support, distribution of a common air picture to multiple agencies and new ways to respond to aircraft violating the NCR airspace.

The 14th Dalai Lama meets at MIT with neuroscientists and Buddhist scholars to explore how the human mind is understood in Tibetan Buddhism and Western science.

MIT Professor H. Robert Horvitz '68 received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering and characterizing the genes controlling cell death in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a microscopic roundworm about a millimeter long that lives in soil. He shared the award with two other recipients.

MIT completes the Albert and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center (a.k.a. the “Z-Center”), a state-of-the-art complex featuring an Olympic-class 50-meter pool, an 11,000-square-foot fitness center, six squash courts, and a 5,000-square-foot multi-activity court. Designed by Kevin Roche, the building links MIT’s existing athletic facilities and completes the north wall of a quadrangle envisioned by architect Eero Saarinen in his plan for MIT’s campus.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering opens the Nanomechanical Technology Laboratory for the study of the mechanical properties of surfaces and devices at the atomic and molecular scale.

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The landmark Baker House residence hall is reopened following a four-phase renovation. Led by Perry Dean Rogers Architects, associate architects for the original construction, the renovation balances the integrity of Alvar Aalto's design with functional upgrades. All rooms, common areas, wiring and mechanical systems, floors, and roofing are renovated, the original teak windows are replicated, and Aalto's original birch furnishings are restored or replaced with reproductions.

MIT Professor Wolfgang Ketterle and alumni Eric A. Cornell PhD '90 and Carl E. Wieman '73 shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of a new state of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate.

As the need for graduate housing continues to grow, MIT opens The Warehouse residence to provide a community for graduate students who prefer private individual space. Designed by the S/L/A/M Collaborative, the full renovation of the five-story industrial building (built in 1890) creates a central atrium, 120 one-occupant efficiency apartments, several common rooms and lounges, and a roof deck.

MIT announces OpenCourseWare, a web-based publication of the educational materials from the MIT faculty's courses, open for educators in the non-profit sector, students and individual learners around the world.

MIT Press publishes "Technology and the Dream, Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT" by Clarence G. Williams, a compilation of oral histories meant to document the history and ongoing legacy of black students, staff and faculty at MIT.

The MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms is inaugurated to advance research in the fields that have been opened by the creation of ultracold atoms and quantum gases.

MIT inaugurates the McGovern Institute for Brain Research to investigate human learning and communications by means of cross-disciplinary research, including genetics, cognitive science, neuroscience and computer science.

MIT-Italy Program is created within MISTI to send MIT students to Italy for internships. Today, the program also fosters research collaboration between faculty at MIT and in Italy through the Progetto Roberto Rocca and MITOR Project.

MIT and Cambridge University in England establish The Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI), a program that includes integrated research and an exchange program for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.

The School of Engineering establishes the Engineering Systems Division (ESD), focused on the development of new approaches, frameworks, and theories to better understand engineering systems behavior and design.

The Division of Bioengineering & Environmental Health (BEH) begins operation with the mission of fostering MIT education and research fusing engineering with biology.

Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) is developed by Lincoln Laboratory to detect and catalogue near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that may threaten Earth. Applying technology originally developed for the surveillance of Earth-orbiting satellites, LINEAR uses two ground-based electro-optical deep-space surveillance telescopes. LINEAR has discovered more than one-third of all known NEAs to date, nearly half of large NEAs, and more than 40% of all known potentially hazardous asteroids.

The Singapore-MIT Alliance is established as an innovative engineering and life science educational and research collaboration among the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and MIT.

MIT Professor Robert C. Merton PhD '70 shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with former faculty member Myron S. Scholes for developing a formula for the valuation of stock options.

Kofi Annan SF'72, SM '72 becomes United Nations Secretary General. In 2001, Annan is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The MIT Lewis Music Library is dedicated. The score of John Harbison's "Veni Creator Spiritus," composed for the event, is inscribed on the glass panels in the mezzanine of the library.

After 93 years of operation, the Lowell Institute School is discontinued at MIT and moves to its current home at Northeastern University.

MIT Professor Mario J. Molina received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for explaining how certain man-made chemicals can rise into the atmosphere and harm the ozone layer. He shared the award with two other recipients.

MIT establishes the Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor Program, an expansion of the MLK Visiting Scholar Program established in 1991. The inaugural MLK visiting professors are Wesley Harris, Richard Joseph, Steven Lee and Oliver McGee.

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MIT Professor Emeritus Clifford G. Shull received the Nobel Prize in Physics for work he did almost 50 years ago on neutron diffraction, a technique that probes how atoms in a material are arranged. He shared the award with one other recipient.

MIT hosts the groundbreaking national conference "Black Women in the Academy: Defending our Name, 1894-1994." The keynote speakers are Johnetta Cole, Angela Davis and Lani Guinier.

Students create one of the most famous "hacks," placing a mock MIT Campus Police cruiser on top of the dome, complete with flashing lights. The car, numbered "pi,'' also sports a pair of fuzzy dice, the license number "IHTFP,'' an MIT Campus Police parking ticket and a yellow diamond-shaped sign on the back window proclaiming "I break for donuts.''

The MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) are created to connect MIT students to internships and research around the world. MIT's primary international program, MISTI is a pioneer in applied international studies—a distinctively MIT concept. Today, MISTI sends hundreds of MIT students abroad each year and facilitates international faculty collaboration through MISTI Global Seed Funds.

The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) reduces midair collisions by sensing nearby aircraft and issuing an advisory to the pilot. Lincoln Laboratory developed the surveillance technology used by TCAS and built and flight-tested the TCAS prototype. Now mandated on all large transport aircraft, TCAS has been in operation for over a decade and has been credited with preventing several catastrophic accidents.

Professor Sheila Widnall '64 is sworn in as Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, the first woman to head one of the military branches.

MIT announces the first Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellowships in a program created to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching. The first fellows are Harold Abelson (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), Edward F. Crawley (Aeronautics and Astronautics), Daniel S. Kemp (Chemistry), Arthur P. Mattuck (Mathematics), John B. Southard (Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences) and Graham C. Walker (Biology).

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Phillip Clay becomes head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the first black academic department head at MIT. Clay was previously chancellor and currently holds the position of Professor of City Planning.

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