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A WIDENING SPHERE EVOLVING CULTURES AT MIT Puitre N. ALEXANDER The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. For information about special quantity discounts, please email special_sales@mitpress. mit.edu This book was set in Adobe Garamond by the MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Alexander, Philip N., 1952- A widening sphere : evolving cultures at MIT / Philip N. Alexander. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-262-01563-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology—Biography. 2. Cambridge (Mass.)—Intellectual life. I. Title. T171.M49A85 2011 607 1°17444—dc22 10 9 8 7 6 5 43 2 =41 A WIDENING SPHERE CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS _ 1x “A FUTURE FULL OF PROMISE” 1 WILLIAM BarTON Rocers, 1804-1882 “SAILING SEAS NOT WELL CHARTED” 47 JOHN DaniEL RUNKLE, 1822-1902 “ALL THAT WE HOLD TRUE AND MANLY” 101 Francis AMASA WALKER, 1840-1897 “UNEASY LIES THE HEAD” 149 James Mason Crafts, 1839-1917 “INTO TOUCH WITH THE WORLD AT LARGE” 175 Henry SMITH PRITCHETT, 1857-1939 “ THOROUGHLY SURE OF HIMSELF” 221 RICHARD CockKBURN MACLAURIN, 1870-1920 “NOT THE MAN FOR US” 281 ERNEST Fox NICHOLS, 1869-1924 “SHAPING THINGS IN ORDERLY FASHION” 295 SAMUEL WESLEY STRATTON, 1861-1931 oe ALL KNOWLEDGE HIS SPHERE” »”» 355 Kar TayLor Compton, 1887-1954 Notes 431 SOURCES 459 INDEX 475 Throughout the coming ages, hers is a wid’ning sphere, In never-ending progress, yet newer truths unfold: While now we see her greatness, it does not all appear, The future will develop what now is still untold. From “Ode to Technology” lyrics by Harry Hunt (class of 1897)) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to Paul Gray, MIT Corporation chair emeritus, president emeritus, and professor of electrical engineering emeritus, for encouraging me to undertake this independent, unofficial history of the Institute and for convincing president Susan Hockfield to help support it. Many thanks to Susan Hockfield and the President’s Office for financial assistance. During my thirty-five years at MIT, a number of colleagues and friends have taught me much about the Institute’s unique history, culture, and community. I am particularly grateful to the following, some of whom are now deceased: Thomas Allen, Joseph Applegate, Ali Argon, Vera Ballard, Manson Benedict, Leo Beranek, Herman Branson, E. Cary Brown, Louis L. Bucciarelli Jr., Stephen Charles, Eulis Clarke, Norman Dahl, Richard Duffy and Adina Adler, Elz- bieta Ettinger, Herman Feshbach, Michael Folsom, Ann Fried- laender, Thomas Goreau, Morris Halle, Harold and Ruth Hanham, Allan Henry, Kenneth Hoffman, Jarmila and Charles Hrbek, Mar- shall Hughes, Harold Isaacs, Jean Jackson, Howard Johnson, Frank Jones, Irving Kaplan, Marilyn Katz, Carl Kaysen, Phyllis Klein, Roy and Peggy Lamson, Joan Laws and Albert Gregory, Heather Lecht- man, Reta Lee, Jerome Lettvin, Francis Low, Edward Lurie, Kenneth Manning, Loretta Mannix, William Ted Martin, Debbie Meinbresse, Elting Morison, Robert Morison, Philip and Phylis Morrison, Mar- garet Otto, James Paradis, Lynn Roberson, Janet Romaine, Walter and Judy Rosenblith, Vincent Rossano, Ann Serini, Constantine x Acknowledgments Simonides, Louis Smullin, Arthur Steinberg, Julius and Catherine Stratton, Dirk Struik, Claudia von Canon, Phyllis Wallace, Charles Weiner and JoAnn Hughes, Clarence and Mildred Williams, James H. Williams Jr., Cynthia Wolff, John Wulff, and Muriel and Everett Zimmerman. It has been an extraordinary privilege and pleasure, over the years, to work on research and writing projects with Leo Beranek, Harold Hanham, Kenneth Manning, James Paradis, Walter Rosenb- lith, Charles Weiner, and Clarence Williams. Staff members, past and present, of the Institute Archives and Special Collections helped identify, locate, and ease access to essential resources. Thanks to Elizabeth Andrews, Ewa Basinska, Lois Beattie, Bridget Carr, Myles Crowley, Margaret dePopolo, Paul Heffernan, Mikki Macdonald, Silvia Mejfa, Jeffrey Mifflin, Nora Murphy, Thomas Rosko, Helen Samuels, Stephen Skuce, Sara Smith, Megan Sniffin- Marinoff, and Craig Thomas for their resourceful efforts to scout out often hard-to-find material. Thanks to Frank Conahan of the MIT Museum for his assistance with photographs. Library staffers Moses Carr, Dan Holland, Harolyn Hylton, Alan Rostoff, and Theresa Tobin accommodated many tricky, burdensome requests. I am grateful for the support of several current and former staffers of the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, especially Nicholas Altenbernd, Rebecca Chamberlain, Charles Fuller, Maya Jhangiani, Susanne Martin, and Magdaléna Rieb. Marguerite Avery, Gita Manaktala, and Ellen Faran of the MIT Press smoothed the publication process. Editor Michael Sims and designer Yasuyo Iguchi brought their usual flair and good humor; it is always a delight to work with them. Thanks to Bert Singer, Phylis Morrison’s son, for permission to reproduce on the front cover one of Phil and Phyl Morrison’s creative illustrations. The back cover shows instruments used by my grandfa- ther, Philip Hardie, as a mechanical engineering student at MIT in the early 1920s. Phil treasured and made good use of them until he and my grandmother, Emily Hare Hardie, retired in the mid-1960s. Images in the photo insert are reproduced courtesy of the MIT’ Museum. Several friends—Karen Alphonse, Mager Benavidez, Katherine Ellins, the Ferrari Duff family (Diane, John, Juliana, and Nicole), William Haas, Carmen Lewis, Gloria Lyn, David Manning, Curtis McMillan and Mahalet Zewde, Nat Daniel Myles, Leonard Rieser,