Category: From the Vault
“Phi Beta Epsilon” (1927)
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This light-hearted silent film shows life at the Phi Beta Epsilon fraternity at MIT during the 1926-1927 academic year. It is filled with silly gags and activities, from house-cleaning to house parties and sports even...
“Quicker ‘n a Wink” (1940) — Prof. Harold E. Edgerton
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Directed by George Sidney, Quicker 'n a Wink introduces MIT Professor Harold "Doc" Edgerton who demonstrates strobe photography. This film allows us to see what happens at speeds too fast to be discerned by the naked ...
“Reading by Ear” (1966) — Science Reporter TV Series
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In this 1966 "Science Reporter" television program, MIT Electrical Engineering Professor Samuel Mason discusses cutting-edge technology being used to focus on the challenges of providing education to visually impaired...
“Returning From the Moon” (1966) — Science Reporter TV Series
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This 1966 "Science Reporter" television program tackles the challenges of getting the Apollo Command Module safely back from space through the atmosphere to Earth—one of the most forbidding hurdles of the Apollo progr...
“Sailing by Computer” (1966) – Science Reporter TV Series
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Novel approaches to ship design using state-of-the-art computers are presented in a 1966 interview of Halsey Herreshoff, instructor at the MIT Department of Naval Architecture in charge of research in ship model testi...
“Soft Machine” (1984) — Architecture Machine Group
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In this video the Architecture Machine Group (a think-tank laboratory that preceded MIT's current Media Lab) introduces the Interactive Graphical Robot System and Video Slidathon. As the computer states, "The man-comp...
“Take Me Back To Tech” (1976)
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This film, which takes its title from a popular MIT song featured at the beginning of the piece, offers a narrative history of MIT from its Back Bay beginnings to the mid-1970s, compiled from a range of vintage film c...
“The Airplane at Play” (1930s) — Charles S. Draper and Robert M. Love
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Charles Stark Draper and Robert M. Love '33 give a wonderful pilot's view of early aerial acrobatics, filming them from both the ground and the cockpit. Cameramen: Draper and Arthur Rossi; Pilot: C.W. Sutherland. Loc...
“The Apollo 4 Mission” (1967)
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This 1967 film depicts the preparation, launch and recovery of the successful flight of the first seven and one-half million pound-thrust Saturn Five vehicle with the Apollo spacecraft. The actual course of the fligh...
“The Birth of Time-Shared Computing” (1985) — Prof. Robert Fano
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The history of time-sharing is the subject of this lecture by Robert Fano, delivered on April 30, 1985. Fano joined the MIT faculty in 1947 and from 1950 to 1953 he led the Radar Techniques Group at Lincoln Laboratory...
