MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
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MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator
1943 - 1998
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Former denizens of Building 20 have written to share their
feelings about the building, or an anecdote, or a story about some of its
colorful characters, or in general how their experiences there have helped
shape their later years.
Stories about Building 20
Here are some of the stories received so far. Several of these were gathered for
an issue of
RLE
Undercurrents).
Others were obtained from people responding to an invitation to the March 1998
commemoration of Building 20.
- Jonathan Allen:
Dirty,
Dingy, and Dark Corridors
- Stanford Anderson:
BLDG 20 TO MoMA
- Elaine and Alfred Appelbaum:
Fond Memories Even After 39 1/2 Years
- Robert L. Baber:
First Computing Course and the Beginning of a Profession
- Bruce Bailey:
A Reminiscence of Building 20...
- Lisa Ann Bella:
Little Red Riding Bike
- Richard L. Benford:
Some Things You Should Not Do with a Screwdriver
- Steven Berger:
American Journal of Physics
- John Boatwright:
Twenty E (part fact and part fiction)
- John Blair:
The Hurricane of 1955
- Don Bruck:
The Story behind those Famous Doc Edgerton Photos
- Julian J. Bussgang:
Jerry Wiesner Got Me a Job
- Dave Carey:
The Indoor Route Across Campus
- Elaine (Geller) Cook:
A
Friendly Place
- M. Allen Dickson:
Man's First Communication with the Moon
- Alan Dyson:
MIT's Relationship with the Boston and Cambridge Public Schools
- William J. Eccles:
TMRC
- Dean S. Edmonds, Jr.:
A Dropped Wrench Brought Down the Wall
- Josef Eisinger:
All-nighters in the Atomic Beam Lab
- John Eshbach:
An Earlier Tour of Building 20
- Thomas J. Fitzgerald:
A Keg of Hard Cider
- Art and Mary Fong
Where Have We Been?
- Hiroya Fujisaki:
Special Affection
- Robert A. Gahl:
Honeybees in the Plywood Palace
- Simson Garfinkel:
Secret Switch
- Roger A. Gaskill:
The Nonreturnable Rat
- Walter Gattridge:
The Physical Electronics Group
- Michael N. Geselowitz:
All Roads Lead Back to Building 20
- Moise H. Goldstein, Jr.:
Tale of the Tea Cart
- S. James Goldstein:
A Memorable Occasion: A Very "Brief" Incubation
- Marion F. Golian:
Dear Building 20:
- Eleanor Guarino:
A Cut-Through
- Morris Halle:
Long
Discussions and Hot Exchanges
- C.W. Hargens:
Ground Control Approach (GCA) Group
- Hermann Haus:
Windows '50
- Nancy Heywood:
More
to Building 20 Than Meets the Eye
- John and Anna Hillier:
Incubators Need Heat
- Ira D. Holtzman:
Fond Memories
- Ralph Hyre:
I Found My Calling in Building 20
- Marcus Karel:
Food Technology Department in Building 20
- Edward M. Kerwin, Jr.:
Progress is Not Always Monotonic
- Richard V. Keyes, Jr.:
Dogs
and Mice and Expensive Computers
- Nelson Y.-S. Kiang:
The
Right People in the Right Slot
- Larry Kilham:
T/R Switch and Mary Baker Eddy
- Martin Klein:
A Bigger Hammer
- Ken Knowlton:
Electrical Safety
- Alan Kotok:
Times at TMRC
- Lawrence J. Krakauer:
I'll Believe It when I See It
- David Kress:
Don't Burn the Building Down
- Robert L. Kyhl:
I
Watched the Construction of Building 20 from My Office
- Jerome Y. Lettvin:
The
Nature of Building 20 Has Nothing to do with its Shabbiness
- Neena Lyall:
So
Much Scope for Interior Decoration
- Robert Mann:
DACL and the First Air-to-Air Missile Work
- Norma McGavern-Norland:
Memories of Building 20 from UROP
- Jane Miller Moffett and Read Moffett:
How We Met in Building 20
- Gary Milsark:
A Mystery and the H.B. Lasnik Memorial Hole
- Alan V. Oppenheim:
An
Air of Mystery and Intrigue
- D. Cosmo Papa:
Project
Meteor
- William T. Peake:
Dr.
Helen Thomas
- Paul Penfield, Jr.:
They're Coming -- Lock it up!
- Joseph S. Perkell:
Comfortable,
Like an Old Shoe
- George Pieper:
My Career Began in 20B229
- Frank Reintjes:
What Drafts Blew Through Those Windows
- Eva Ritter-Walker:
Site of my First Job
- Douglas T. Ross:
The Building 20 Penthouse Was a Blast
- Lindsay Russell:
The Third Floor
- R. Keith Sawyer:
The Concourse Program
- Bill Schwann:
Rad Lab Branches in England and France
- John W. Severinghaus:
Old But Creative Space
- Palmer Shannon:
Building 20 as a Dormitory
- Jeff Shapiro:
A Cold Beer on a Hot Day
- Court Skinner:
Mrs. Lutz
- Louis D. Smullin:
Sprinklers
with Enormous Water Capacity
- Charles A. Steggarda:
Coming Through the Back Door of this Secure Building
- Kenneth N. Stevens:
A
Great Place to be a Graduate Student
- Richard M. Stewart:
Reminiscence of Pre-Building 20
- Malcom W. P. Strandberg:
It
All Happened in a Rush at the Rad Lab
- Gray C. Trembly:
The Loran Group
- Ed Walker:
Drafty Windows, Creaky Floors, and a Treasure Trove
- John T. Weeks:
Pre-net Networking, Before the ARPANet there was the Old Boy Net
- Steve Weiss:
Model Railroading in Building 20
- Thomas F. Weiss:
A
Focal Point of Protest Because of ROTC
- Glenn Earl Whitham:
Getting into the First Wave of the New Electronic Enterprise
URL of this page:
http://www-eecs.mit.edu/building/20/anecdotes
Author: Paul Penfield, Jr.
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Created: Jan 20, 1998
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Modified: Jul 6, 2000
Related pages: Stata Complex
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Building 20
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Reminiscence submission form
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and inquiries are welcome.
