The hallowed history of student pranks (often known as hacks) at MIT includes the annual Baker House Piano Drop and the MIT weather balloon at the Harvard-Yale football game in 1982. One hack that has shown remarkable staying power in local lore is the 1958 measurement of the Massachusetts Ave. Bridge in “smoots,” a now accepted unit of meausrement named for the 5-foot, 7-inch Oliver R. Smoot Jr. ’62. Then a first-year pledge at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Smoot famously laid down hundreds of times across the span one storied night as his peers painted markers across the bridge, totaling 364.4 smoots (plus 1 ear). Nearly 70 years later, the smoot markings remain.
On April 4, an MIT team set out on a similar journey across the Charles River to pull off a new hack, this time measuring the Longfellow Bridge in “kleins.” This new measurement is named after Smoot’s classmate Martin Klein ’62. One klein (4 feet, 9.5 inches) is equal to 0.85820896 smoots. The expedition was undertaken in honor of both Smoot and the 85th birthday of Klein.
Known as the father of commercial side-scan sonar, Martin Klein serves on the MIT Sea Grant Advisory Board and the MIT Museum Collections Committee. He is a life fellow of both the Marine Technology Society and the Explorers Club, an international organization dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific inquiry. His sonar technology has been used worldwide to help locate countless famous shipwrecks, including the Titanic, the World War I ocean liner RMS Lusitania, and the treasure-laden Nuestra Señora de Atocha.
Appropriately, the MIT team used a “side-scan” method to survey the Longfellow Bridge. Reclined on a custom-engineered wooden cart topped with a mission-specific chaise lounge pillow, Klein himself acted as the official observation device — by looking to the sides — as the team pulled him along the bridge. Some of the noted anomalies and discoveries included a Duck Boat passing underneath, a mermaid tail, a kayak paddle, a sleeping goose, and a tenacious survey team.
The initiative was spearheaded by Makenna Reilly, a second-year undergraduate in mechanical engineering, and Andrew Bennett ’85, PhD ’97, MIT Sea Grant education administrator and senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE). Over a dozen surveyors joined the expedition, including alumni, faculty, and staff from MechE, MIT Sea Grant, MIT Edgerton Center, MIT Museum Hart Nautical Collections, Harvard Extension School, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. MIT students also joined the effort, including senior Teagan Sullivan, junior Adrienne Lai, and graduate students Ansel Garcia-Langley, Erin Menezes, Manuel Valencia, and Gerardo Berlanga Molina.
The Longfellow Bridge was determined to be 442 kleins (plus 2 legs) and was celebrated as the “Shortfellow Bridge” in a ceremony following the event.
One klein = 57.5 inches = 146.05 centimeters = 1.4605 meters = .0009075126 miles = 1.597222 yards = 4.791667 feet = .0007886069 nautical miles = .007260087 furlongs = 0.7986111 fathoms = 172.5 barleycorns = 292,100,000 beard seconds = 647.4421 Ligne = 14.375 horse hands = 4.819655 shaku = .85820896 smoots.
Additional participants in the event include:
- Elisabeth (Libby) Meier, assistant curator for the Hart Nautical Collections at the MIT Museum;
- Dana Yoerger, PhD ’82, senior scientist applied ocean physics and engineering at WHOI;
- Professor George Buckley, assistant director of sustainability at Harvard University Extension School and diver of the year of the Boston Sea Rovers;
- Paul K. Matthias, senior program manager of the Ocean Observatories Initiative at the WHOI;
- Jim Bales, associate director of the Edgerton Center at MIT;
- John Freidah of MechE; and
- Joice Himawan ’83.
