As a tribute to the renovation of the Barker reading room, the skylight has been replaced by Iron Man’s arc reactor. The Cambridge shore holds Kresge behind it rises the Great Dome. The remaining tower is a pawn, the chess piece that can transform into anything once it reaches the end of the board - just as we have unlimited potential after graduating from MIT. Behind the Longfellow Bridge the suspension cables of the Zakim Bridge spell out MIT.
The back left tower is a stack of poker chips in tribute to the movie “21” and the actual MIT Poker Club members who visited during our freshman year. The front towers on the bridge are an admissions tube, a surprise we all received as excited prefrosh, and a dalek from Dr. Between these three landmarks one can always find their way home.īehind the Harvard Bridge, both the Longfellow and Zakim bridges span Charles River, displaying a stunning view we are surrounded by each day. In the background rise the Prudential Center and John Hancock Tower.
The sign has an extra post, alluding to a transistor. Behind it stands the Citgo sign, a beacon that is always visible across the Charles. On the Boston shore stands Fenway, a symbol of Boston’s strength. As it passes the beaver on its way to MIT, the rough and leafy bridge evolves to being clear and defined, a nod to ground-breaking scientific discoveries and progress. The underside of the beaver’s tail holds our ubiquitous motto “IHTFP”, a slogan whose meaning flips as easily as the tail itself. The upper railing of the bridge is a DNA double helix.
He stands atop the Harvard Bridge at the 149th smoot mark. As our class is flanked by Olympic celebrations in 20, our Beaver’s right hand grips an Olympic torch crafted from the letters MMXVI. Projecting from its center is a hologram of a globe, symbolizing the global influence and diversity of MIT. His left hand holds a disk with the Mayan calendar, in tribute to the survival of our class through 12/21/12. The beaver of 2016 is youthful and proud. Now is your chance to take part in the long and unbroken tradition that embodies our collective, life-changing experiences at MIT. Each year’s committee still has the same fundamental mission: to design a ring that will inspire us while we are here, unite us once we leave, and, above all else, unmistakably symbolize the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ever since, each class has appointed its own Ring Committee, which must honor the traditions of the Institute while simultaneously highlighting the class’s unique characteristics. So started the Institute tradition of the Brass Rat, the affectionate nickname for the ring that has become a symbol of MIT as well as one of the most recognizable rings worldwide. After the recommendation of the committee, the Class of 1930 was the first to proudly wear a Brass Rat.
He does his best work in the dark.”Ĭiting the fact that many other schools had buildings similar to our Great Dome, the committee ultimately decided to honor our hard-working and industrious mascot on the ring-and thus the Brass Rat was born. The beaver is noted for his engineering, mechanical skills, and industry. The beaver not only typifies the Tech (student), but his habits are peculiarly our own. Hornady’s book on the animals of North America and instantly chose the beaver. But neither of these were American animals. He is wise, patient, strong, hard working, and, like all who graduate from Tech, has a good hide. “We first thought of the kangaroo which, like Tech, goes forward in leaps and bounds. The committee looked to the original discussion over the mascot (formally decided upon by President MacLaurin in 1914) calling upon the now famous defense of the beaver by Lester Gardner, Class of 1897:
The committee agreed upon a three part construction, with a primary image on the bezel of the ring and two other images on the two shanks.Ĭontroversy quickly arose over whether to honor the Beaver or the Great Dome on the bezel, and the debate was so heated that the status of the beaver as the Institute’s mascot was even called into question. Brigham Allen, called upon one member of the classes of 1930, 1931, and 1932 and entrusted them with the task of designing a ring that the Institute Committee would ultimately approve as the Standard Technology Ring. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Brass Rat tradition was born in the spring of 1929.