The Smoot: History's oddest measuring stick

On a cold October night, on the Harvard Bridge in Boston, Oliver Smoot and his fellow MIT fraternity pledges were doing something odd - measuring how long the bridge was in Mr. Smoot's height. But they succeeded, and eventually this would cause the unit - the Smoot - to be born. It is a story that lives on in the lore of Boston, MIT, the Internet, and the very concrete of the Harvard Bridge itself.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

https://news.mit.edu/2008/smoot-tt0924

Image: Courtesy MIT - https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/GCP-00023939?query=smoot&resultIndex=6

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