An Unusual Unit of Measurement
About 35 years ago, I went for a run in Boston. Sure, I ran a lot back then, but this day was special. I started at my Somerville apartment, made my way to Harvard’s campus, turned left, and ran along the Charles River until I arrived at MIT. There is a bridge there that spans the Charles and connects to Boston. It is officially known as the Harvard Bridge. Unofficially, well, that is a different story.
My run that day was a long one. I ran through downtown Boston to the ocean and then made my way back up the river, turned right at Harvard, and then back home. I ran for 15 miles or so.
I am writing about that day because of what I saw on the sidewalk of the Harvard Bridge. As I ran across the bridge toward Boston, I kept noticing spray-painted messages on the sidewalk.
…10 SMOOTS…20 SMOOTS…30 SMOOTS…
When I reached the end I saw this:
It was clear to me that the bridge had been measured in an unusual unit. I had a pretty good idea what happened but confirming my suspicion wasn’t easy in the mid-1980s. The computer was of little value as Google was a distant dream. I had to bide my time.
I eventually found out that the Harvard Bridge had been set upon in 1958 by a group of MIT fraternity boys. Of course, they positioned Oliver R. Smoot, MIT class of 1962, on the ground and measured the bridge in 5’7″ increments. I had guessed that something like this happened. What I didn’t know is that the Harvard Bridge is known to locals as the Smoots Bridge.
It is my understanding that even the police use the Smoot unit to identify coordinates on the bridge. The Smoot has become so accepted that a large grant was awarded to replace lights on the bridge under the condition that they are placed at Smoot-friendly units, not those standardized things that the code called for. And, yes, the grant was accepted, and the lights are a Smoot or two apart.
If you feel inspired, you can go to Google Calculator and get any distance you want converted to Smoots. If you need to know how many Smoots it is from Cleveland, Ohio to Cleveland, Mississippi, have at it. The Smoot has become an accepted unit (cough, cough), at least in some places.
Of course, this is nothing more than a fun little tale. MIT still makes a big deal out of the Smoot unit, as well they should. Students at MIT repaint the numbers twice a year to make sure the sacred markings are preserved. Oliver R. Smoot returns to campus for parades and celebrations. The aspect of this story that makes me shake my head is not the bridge itself; it is the career of Oliver R. Smoot. He went on to become chairman of the American National Standards Institute’s Board of Directors. Those people concern themselves with standardized units of measure. Smoot is unique in history as the only person to enforce the good practice of standardized units of measure while also being one himself. And that is truly remarkable.
