What Matters: May 2009
Nominate an MIT Object
By Claude W. Brenner '47, SM '48
This image of a slide rule on the MIT150 Web site includes a quote from a class of 1959 alum: "The standard slide rule of the type all MIT students used before electronic calculators was the key symbol of the daily work of an MIT student for many, many years."
Objects. Those are what matter. Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, has determined that young people who choose a career in science or technology were first motivated by an object in their childhood. For me it was a trio of South African Airways Junkers Trimotors sitting on the tarmac at Johannesburg's Germiston (now Oliver R. Tambo) Airport in 1937 on a Sunday afternoon outing with my mother and sister when I was eight years old. The wonder of those machines sparked a passion for model airplanes and a determination to be an aeronautical engineer, an ambition fulfilled at MIT ten years later.
And objects are what matter to the MIT Museum. When the Corporation established the museum 38 years ago as the MIT Historical Collections, it was fondly referred to as the Attic of MIT. Generations of students rushed to donate a variety of objects, mostly that most iconic of all MIT artifacts, their slide rules. The slide rule somehow defined us. We had them engraved with our names. We carried them from class to class in their cases dangling from our belts. We even glorified them in our rousing cheers to inspire our teams to greater effort. You must remember "e to the x du dx, e to the x dx! Secant! Cosine! Tangent! Sine! 3.14159! Square root integral udv, slipstick, slide rule, MIT!" Many a team was spurred to victory by those words.
And the museum obliged. For years a glass display case stood near the second-floor entrance with its collection of slide rules, each identified with the name of its donor. But times have changed. The physics of the solid state and William Shockley VIII PhD '36, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain of Bell Labs gave us the transistor (for which they won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1956). And the beloved slide rule was displaced by the Texas Instruments and Hewlett Packard pocket calculators that have, in turn, given way to laptops.
The museum has grown apace, of course. It now houses over one million artifacts, drawings, documents, and images in its collections as a physical institutional memory of the scientific and technological breakthroughs and accomplishments of MIT—her faculty, her students, her alumni, her research staff. As the 2011 celebrations for the 150th anniversary of MIT's founding draw near, the museum is planning an exhibition of 150 objects reflective of the Institute's achievements throughout its history. The objects won't be confined to a display in the museum—some will be installed at appropriate sites throughout the campus.
Many of these objects will be drawn from the museum's collections, of course. But Deborah Douglas, the museum's curator of science and technology, is using this anniversary exhibition to experiment with some of the newest ideas in curatorial practice. She is inviting alumni—together with the larger MIT community—to help create this exhibition by nominating objects, commenting on objects, and sharing stories. In time this digital repository will become like OpenCourseWare, a boundless resource for those who want to learn about and engage with MIT. Now the museum will have a way of collecting numerous stories and connecting directly with you; and you, in turn, will connect with others.
So think on it. Perhaps that inspirational object from your happy days at the Institute? Or something from your profession? But please, no slide rules, unless it's really unusual, if not unique. In addition to robots, ship models, instruments, devices, hacks, and the world's largest collection of holography, the museum also holds one of the world's largest collections of slide rules. This acquisition, a gift some five years ago from the second-generation successor to Keuffel and Esser, even included a bronze bust of William J. D. Keuffel himself. And to top it off, the museum accepted the donation by Martin Klein '62 of a recording that he had made of the patter of the "slide rule man," the man who came to campus each fall term with his little machine, chattering away as he engraved your name on your slide rule.
In any event, Debbie and her colleagues are in earnest. They want your help, and you can reach them at 150exhibition@mit.edu. Or you can even write her a letter at MIT, Building N52, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. But, best of all, go directly to the MIT150 Exhibition Web site and suggest an object or two. I think you will be surprised by what has been suggested, but I suspect there are countless other ideas. As chair of the museum's collections committee, I invite you to contribute to this novel project.
About the Author
Claude W. Brenner '47, SM '48 has been a longtime volunteer for the MIT Alumni Association in a variety of roles. In addition to being chair of the MIT Museum's collections committee, he also currently serves as class president, chair of the Alumni Association Selection Committee, member of the Educational Council and the Institute Advisory Council for the Arts, and on visiting committees for music and theatre arts and student life. In 1974, he was awarded the Bronze Beaver, the Association's highest honor, for his service and commitment to the Institute and the Alumni Association.
What Matters is a guest opinion column written by a different MIT alumnus or alumna. The views expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Alumni Association or MIT. Interested in writing a column? Email whatmatters@mit.edu.
