Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers to help American industry grow through science. It moved from Boston's Back Bay to its current campus in 1916.

MIT is known for science, engineering, computing and robotics, and also for its hands-on student life and clever pranks. More than 100 Nobel laureates have been linked to it as alumni, faculty or researchers. Its Great Dome over Killian Court is on the globe. Its famous pranks and its research on computing have made it one of the best-known science schools in the world.

A campus you can walk through

The campus covers 168 acres along the Charles River for more than a mile. The buildings are connected by a long indoor corridor system.

Buildings are numbered. Building 10 is under the Great Dome and was meant as the ceremonial main entrance. The Infinite Corridor runs east to west from Building 7. Higher numbers go to buildings farther from the centre of campus.

Science and hacks

During World War II MIT's Radiation Laboratory made it the largest non-industrial research contractor in the country. Later MIT became closely linked to computer science, artificial intelligence and projects such as the Apollo Guidance Computer and LIGO.

Students are famous for elaborate pranks, called hacks. The card says one famous hack put a police car on top of the dome.

On the globe

The model shows the Great Dome over Killian Court. Look for the big round dome.