History of science

"Hidden Figures" author and producer Margot Lee Shetterly fields a question at the MIT pre-release screening of the film based on her book. MIT Museum Director of Collections Deborah Douglas (left) and Institute Professor Sheila Widnall were also on the post-screening discussion panel.

"Hidden Figures" screening, discussion addresses the history of black women at NASA

Author and executive producer Margot Lee Shetterly explores inspiration for the film; MIT guest speakers provide additional historical context.

December 22, 2016

The term “wild,” is receiving renewed attention from academics and popular authors alike. MIT historian Harriet Ritvo notes that even those who are critical of the term employ it frequently, and that most of us remain uncertain of the word's conceptual parameters.

3Q: Historian Harriet Ritvo on what it means to be "wild"

Scientists, social scientists, and humanists heed the call of the wild at MIT workshop.

November 4, 2016

Pioneering women of science, tech, engineering, and math represented in the MIT Libraries' collections include: Ada Lovelace, Alice Ball, Hertha Ayrton, Marie Curie, Mary Somerville, Rachel Carson, Emelie du Chatelet, Caroline Herschel, Maria Agnesi, and Maria Mitchell.

Celebrating pioneering women in STEM at the MIT Libraries

For Ada Lovelace Day, a look at 10 women in STEM history from MIT’s rare books collection.

October 11, 2016

Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT.

Scene at MIT: Margaret Hamilton’s Apollo code

A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the moon.

August 17, 2016

Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy, left), a gung-ho scientist with expertise in the paranormal, and Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon, right), an eccentric engineer, tinker in a nearly perfect replication of an MIT lab.

How MIT gave "Ghostbusters" its "geek cred"

From proton packs to hidden props, the 2016 blockbuster draws upon MIT personalities and scientific panache.

July 15, 2016

Featured video: The MIT Telephone Banquet

A century ago, MIT hosted what became the largest-ever transcontinental telephone circuit at an event marking the Institute's move to Cambridge.

June 14, 2016

On Wednesday, James Lovell (right) spoke at MIT as a special guest, invited by the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Lovell attended a pre-talk reception in AeroAstro’s Neumann Hangar.

Apollo 13 commander James Lovell: “Crises don’t bother me anymore”

Astronaut’s visit to MIT draws capacity crowd as he recounts lunar mission’s “successful failure.”

April 28, 2016

Q&A: Rainer Weiss on LIGO’s origins

MIT physicist developed the concept for LIGO as a teaching exercise.

February 11, 2016

Thomas Levenson, professor of science writing and director of the MIT-SHASS Graduate Program in Science Writing

Thomas Levenson receives the 2016 Levitan Prize in the Humanities

Award will support research on the South Sea Bubble crisis as an example of connections between scientific developments and their larger social consequences.

February 2, 2016

Henry Thomas Tizard (center), British physicist and head of the Tizard Mission, visits with MIT researchers. The 1940 Tizard Mission introduced to the U.S. the newly invented resonant-cavity magnetron and other British radar developments, and helped establish MIT as a major federally funded research university.

How the Tizard Mission paved the way for research at MIT

Seventy-five years ago, an international meeting of scientific minds changed forever how MIT and other research institutions develop new technologies.

November 23, 2015

Celebrating Einstein

events to mark 100th anniversary of the general theory of relativity

Events across MIT will mark the 100th anniversary of the general theory of relativity.

April 3, 2015

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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