History of science

NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes are both now located beyond the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the sun. Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause, or the edge of the heliosphere, in August 2012. Heading in a different direction, Voyager 2 crossed another part of the heliopause in November 2018.

3 Questions: MIT goes interstellar with Voyager 2

MIT Kavli's John Richardson describes MIT's role in the historic passing of the Voyager 2 craft past the heliopause and into the interstellar medium.

December 10, 2018

Marcia Bartusiak and her new book, “Dispatches from Planet 3”

Book explores milestones of astronomical discovery

In “Dispatches from Planet 3,” Marcia Bartusiak illuminates overlooked breakthroughs and the people who made them.

September 18, 2018

“I really wanted people to think of the satellite not only as this technology that’s floating around out there in orbit, but as a machine that plays a structuring role in our everyday lives,” says Lisa Parks, a professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program.

Contemplating the eyes in the sky

Media studies scholar Lisa Parks examines the way satellites and other aerial technologies have changed society.

July 20, 2018

“I believe the work of this class is important to the present — and to the future," says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. "What can history teach us now, as we work to invent the future? How can we make sure that the technologies we invent will contribute to making a better world for all?" Pictured: Craig Steven Wilder, the Barton L. Weller Professor of History, and Melissa Nobles, professor of p...

3 Questions: Melissa Nobles and Craig Steven Wilder on the MIT and Legacy of Slavery project

MIT Community Dialogue series is underway as multi-year research continues.

April 30, 2018

MIT professors Jule Charney (left) and Edward Lorenz

Featured video: MIT's meteorology pioneers

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences honors trailblazing professors Jule Charney and Edward Lorenz with a tribute to their lives and legacies.

April 17, 2018

Left to right: Jay Mahat, Nicholas Struntz, Benjamin Mead, and Sarvesh Varma are the first recipients of the MIT-GSK Gertrude B. Elion Research Fellowship Program for Drug Discovery and Disease.

Inaugural class of MIT-GSK Gertrude B. Elion Research Fellows selected

New fellowship program honoring trailblazing Nobel laureate awards four MIT postdocs focused on drug discovery and development.

April 17, 2018

MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts (pictured), and the Onsala Space Observatory in Onsala, Sweden are celebrating 50 years since the first transatlantic geodetic very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations.

Celebrating 50 years of transatlantic geodetic radio science

Researchers mark a silver anniversary for a space geodesy technique pioneered at MIT.

April 5, 2018

MIT Professor Tom Leighton has won the 2018 Marconi Prize for his fundamental contributions to technology and the establishment of the content delivery network (CDN) industry.

Professor Tom Leighton wins 2018 Marconi Prize

Akamai co-founder honored for pioneering content delivery network services industry.

March 22, 2018

Four MIT students from the first "MIT and Slavery" class (21H.S01) presented well-researched information and narratives that shed new light on the history of science and technology in the U.S. (Left to right) Charlotte Minsky '20, Kelvin Green II '21, Mahi Elango '20, teaching assistant and PhD student Clare Kim, and, at the podium, Alaisha Alexander '18.

Event explores initial findings from “MIT and Slavery” class

Students bring the Institute into national conversation about universities and the institution of slavery in the United States.

February 23, 2018

MIT Black History Project launches new website

Digital archive features never-before-published image of MIT's first black woman student.

February 21, 2018

Left to right: Rania Ghosn, Rosalind Williams, and Caroline Jones joined guest lecturer Imre Szeman for a panel discussion after his talk on ways to shift from “petroculture.”

Energy transition through aesthetics and culture

MIT Energy Initiative seminar examines the role of the humanities, design, and aesthetics in catalyzing a fairer, more diverse energy future.

October 24, 2017

Rainer Weiss at home early this morning, after learning that he has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics.

MIT physicist Rainer Weiss shares Nobel Prize in physics

LIGO inventor and professor emeritus of physics recognized “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.”

October 3, 2017

Left to right: Matthew Nicolai, Dallace Francis, and Christian Argenti, MIT seniors in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and members of the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsom, took the MIT History seminar, People and Other Animals, together.

Entering the animal world

In a history seminar, engineering students explore shifting ideas about animal intelligence and human uses of animals throughout the ages.

May 19, 2017

"The new frontier is learning how to design the relationships between people, robots, and infrastructure," says David Mindell, the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, and a professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "We need new sensors, new software, new ways of architecting systems."

Q&A: On the future of human-centered robotics

Professor David Mindell, who researches the interaction between automation and human behavior, discusses the interdependence of people, robots, and infrastructure.

May 15, 2017

Most applications of deep learning use “convolutional” neural networks, in which the nodes of each layer are clustered, the clusters overlap, and each cluster feeds data to multiple nodes (orange and green) of the next layer.

Explained: Neural networks

Ballyhooed artificial-intelligence technique known as “deep learning” revives 70-year-old idea.

April 14, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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