Two stops down from Harvard Square on the Red Line is Kendall Square, around which can be found MIT. MIT wasn't born here - it was originally founded in Boston in 1865, across the river from Cambridge (if you remember my little geography lesson) and originally known as Boston Tech. It moved to its current location in 1916, and as far as I know, has settled down and is planning to retire in its current location.
MIT is famous for:
- its Infinite Corridor, which defies photography with its infinite-ness
- the Great Dome
- Hacks, pranks pulled by students, including assembling a replica police car on top of the Great Dome
- the Stata Center (interior), which is crazy madness
- Richard Stallman, who was not mentioned on the tour or openly celebrated anywhere we were
This little baby is the Stata Center. It was designed by Frank Gehry, famous for the Guggenheim in Bilbao, who appears to be afraid of 90 degree angles. It's named for some rich dude who went to MIT and donated the money for its construction.
Down the road a little is the MIT Museum. They're renovating this at the moment, which is good, because it's pretty well hidden where it is. It's also a little out of date - for an institute who is leading the world with research, they look like they don't really want to give the museum their hand-me-downs for 10 years. This is Kismet. I think he mates with gerbil to produce Furbies.
They have some really cool holograms (although Jem was nowhere to be seen).
One of the coolest things at the museum is the artwork by one-time Artist in Residence, Arthur Ganson. He builds Rube Goldberg-esque kinetic sculptures that exist to do not very much at all. I like this one in particular.
Check out my other videos for a few more.
Tags: travel
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