2015 was a banner year at MIT, in classrooms, in labs, and online. In the Twittersphere, MIT’s followers enjoyed news updates and musings about the Institute, campus life, and MIT alumni — from a freshman with 55 online courses under his belt, to the announcement of our 2016 Commencement speaker, to President Reif’s message to Ahmed the young clock builder. They also appreciated seeing Institute connections to world events and trends, such as the New Horizons Pluto flyby, the optically mysterious white/gold/black/blue dress, and the social campaign #iLookLikeanEngineer highlighting diversity in engineering.
MIT’s Twitter account gained more than 83,000 followers this year — for a current total of more than 255,000 — and was listed as the world’s top university Twitter feed by the marketing firm Hubspot. Among the most popular individual tweets of 2015 are postings about MIT’s new humanoid robot, MIT open courses relating to this year’s anniversary of the general theory of relativity, and the Institute’s unique celebrations of Pi Day and Back to the Future Day. Here are the top 25 @MIT tweets of 2015, measured in retweets and favorites, in chronological order:
An engineering lesson after the home team wins
Congrats, @Patriots! And thanks, @NASA, for reminding us of the marvel of engineering that is the #ISS. #SB49 pic.twitter.com/BZm0COr2zW
— MIT (@MIT) February 2, 2015
A timely optics course from MIT OpenCourseWare
Confused about #TheDress? This optics course from @MITOCW should straighten things out: http://t.co/0iVP5KNJRF pic.twitter.com/DHyCJR609G
— MIT (@MIT) February 27, 2015
Saying goodbye to a legend
“Find your own way and make your own contribution.” –#LeonardNimoy in @thetech http://t.co/2B3B5Khi8Z pic.twitter.com/NV5Peg2tBY
— MIT (@MIT) February 28, 2015
A hugely successful Pi Day at MIT
Happy #PiDay from MIT! http://t.co/CJDYddvfoc 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582... pic.twitter.com/uXtFmPROHL
— MIT (@MIT) March 14, 2015
Congratulations, New Horizons!
Congrats to the entire @NASANewHorizons team for a successful #PlutoFlyby! pic.twitter.com/TK5k6dosSh
— MIT (@MIT) July 14, 2015
The School of Engineering is top notch!
MIT named the best computer science and engineering school in the U.S. by @businessinsider http://t.co/P1G0lkL50N pic.twitter.com/1nDwEWvL76
— MIT (@MIT) August 2, 2015
MIT takes part in #ILookLikeanEngineer
Just a few of the faces of @MITEngineering... Tweet yours with #ILookLikeanEngineer pic.twitter.com/JCLd6Fn2qU
— MIT (@MIT) August 4, 2015
Tops in the world, for the fourth-straight year
MIT has again been ranked the No.1 university in the world by @worlduniranking http://t.co/MCBZEilN8Z #QSWUR pic.twitter.com/t8dIIXkfCO
— MIT (@MIT) September 15, 2015
President Reif celebrates making and makers
Making things = inventing the future. We are delighted that Ahmed is interested in #STEM and in MIT! –President Reif pic.twitter.com/CEwAD8FLYk
— MIT (@MIT) September 17, 2015
All eyes on the "Super Blood Moon" eclipse
Hope you're enjoying the #SuperBloodMoon! Here's the view from Cambridge before the #eclipse and during totality. pic.twitter.com/ZJHS5aP7yO
— MIT (@MIT) September 28, 2015
Heralding an unsung Space Race hero for Ada Lovelace Day
As a programmer at MIT, Margaret Hamilton's code got humans to the moon http://t.co/ZJOlSr0zXx #ALD15 #MIThistory pic.twitter.com/GXsCl9ekIc
— MIT (@MIT) October 13, 2015
Time machine on campus for Back To The Future Day
Great Scott! A DeLorean on campus for #BackToTheFuture Day. #onlyatMIT pic.twitter.com/wpidCD8ofs
— MIT (@MIT) October 21, 2015
Gorgeous view of MIT by the Charles River
Stunning view of MIT in silhouette! #aroundMIT "@jaaabeee Cool sunset tonight. #Boston" pic.twitter.com/oVC1soxNYM
— MIT (@MIT) October 26, 2015
Only at MIT: Periodic table of chocolate strawberries!
Happy #NationalChocolateDay from MIT! https://t.co/Jw6tlkMLEO #onlyatMIT pic.twitter.com/mznR9ZAdrP
— MIT (@MIT) October 28, 2015
Catching up with our favorite cheetah on National Cat Day
A closer look at @mitmeche's robot cheetah for #NationalCatDay! https://t.co/rkuoE0gBb5 pic.twitter.com/9ZVgUxiIuD
— MIT (@MIT) October 29, 2015
Automating data analysis with a system from CSAIL
New MIT "Data Science Machine" automates #bigdata analysis https://t.co/JdV3B6TJBx pic.twitter.com/TWREPGjpLL
— MIT (@MIT) November 4, 2015
A freshman with 55+ MIT courses under his belt
Meet Ahaan, a 16-year-old MIT freshman who took 55 courses on @MITOCW and @edXOnline: https://t.co/z0mBP9N2qf pic.twitter.com/021VcLBXF3
— MIT (@MIT) November 5, 2015
MIT in the autumn leaves
M I T pic.twitter.com/QeEx3gtiL5
— MIT (@MIT) November 16, 2015
We earned a new robot. Thanks, NASA!
Sweet! @NASA has given @MIT_CSAIL a new #robot to develop for future space missions. https://t.co/hGog3dKo5R pic.twitter.com/ElKRY9Uc2L
— MIT (@MIT) November 18, 2015
Inspired by numbers on Fibonacci Day
Math inspires us all. Happy #FibonacciDay — 11/23 — and #MathMonday! Fibonacci spiral via @giphy pic.twitter.com/6Ug2VqPOXC
— MIT (@MIT) November 23, 2015
Free course from Professor Max Tegmark celebrates relativity
Celebrate Einstein and #GR100: Free @MITOCW course on #relativity w/ Prof. @Tegmark https://t.co/9W6jYNJmFT pic.twitter.com/H3fJrDjHMY
— MIT (@MIT) November 25, 2015
Welcome back to MIT, Matt Damon!
Actor and filmmaker Matt Damon will be the 2016 @MITCommencement speaker! https://t.co/YL3dkToT5F #MIT2016 pic.twitter.com/kPZuCt4WF6
— MIT (@MIT) December 10, 2015
Professor Sherry Turkle on the importance of reading
"If you don’t read you lose the capacity for sustained concentration." -Prof. @STurkle https://t.co/U1N6jNk8MB pic.twitter.com/sW3yfn7TF4
— MIT (@MIT) December 21, 2015
Marking an historic landing
History made tonight. To all at @SpaceX — especially our MIT friends: Congrats on launch + landing! #SpaceX pic.twitter.com/Pl01LZvlNv
— MIT (@MIT) December 22, 2015
Student-made explainer honors Newton
Happy #Newtonmas! Newton's laws help us launch and land rockets. How they work: https://t.co/7brhm9WHKw pic.twitter.com/AavSMRVgVk
— MIT (@MIT) December 26, 2015
