Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, MIT adopted a 

Post-war defense research contributed to the rapid expansion of the faculty and campus under James The current 168-acre 68.0 ha campus opened in 1916 and extends over  of the Charles River basin.

European polytechnic university model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. Researchers worked on computers, radar, and inertial guidance during World War II and the Cold War. 

As of 2015, 84 Nobel laureates, 52 National Medal of Science recipients, 45 Rhodes Scholars, 38 MacArthur Fellows, 34 astronauts, and 2 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT.

MIT, with five schools and one college which contain a total of 32 departments, is traditionally known for its research and education in the physical sciences and engineering, and more recently in biology, economics, linguistics, and management as well. MIT is often cited as among the world's top  "Engineers" sponsor 31 sports, most teams 

of which compete in the NCAA Division III's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference; the Division I rowing programs compete as part of the 

 The school has a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni would rank as the eleventh-largest economy in the world.

MIT has kept pace with and helped to advance the digital age. In addition to developing the predecessors to modern computing and networking technologies,students, staff, and faculty members at Project MAC, 

Free Software Foundation were; the MIT Media Lab was founded in 1985 by Nicholas  and Jerome to promote research into novel uses of computer technology;the World Wide Web Consortium standards 

the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and the Tech Model Railroad Club wrote some of the earliest interactive computer video games like and created much of modern hacker slang and culture.Several major computer-related organizations have originated at MIT since the  Richard GNU Project and the subsequent 

organization was founded at the Laboratory for Computer Science in 1994 by Tim project has made course materials for over 2,000 MIT classes available online free of charge since 2002;and the One Laptop per Child initiative to expand computer education and connectivity to children worldwide was launched in 2005.

number of new buildings on Vassar Street including the  on campus in the included expansions of the Media Lab, the Sloan School's eastern campus, and graduate residences in the northwest. In 2006, President launched the MIT Energy Research Council to investigate the interdisciplinary challenges posed by increasing global energy consumption

MIT was named a sea-grant college in 1976 to support its programs in oceanography and marine sciences and was named a space-grant college in 1989 to support its aeronautics and astronautics diminishing government financial support over the past quarter century, MIT launched several successful development 

campaigns to significantly expand the campus: new dormitories and athletics buildings on west campus; the Tang Center for Management Education; several buildings in the northeast corner of campus supporting research into biology, brain and cognitive sciences, genomics, biotechnology, and cancer research; and a 

In 2001, inspired by the open source and open access launched  to make the lecture notes, problem sets, syllabuses, exams, and lectures from the great majority of its courses available online for no charge, though without any formal accreditation for coursework completed While the cost of supporting and hosting the project is high expanded in 2005 to include other universities as a part of the  Consortium, which currently 

includes more than 250 academic institutions with content available in at least six languages.In 2011, MIT announced it would offer formal certification to online participants completing 

coursework in its program, for a modest " online platform supporting  was initially developed in partnership with Harvard and its analogous "" initiative. The c platform is open source, and other universities have already joined and added their own course content

England region and Canada On November 25, 2013, MIT announced the creation of the Collier Medal, to be awarded annually to "an individual or group that embodies the character and qualities that Officer Collier

Three days after the Boston Marathon bombings of April 2013, MIT Police patrol officer Sean Collier was fatally shot by the suspects, setting off a violent manhunt that shut down the campus and much of the Boston metropolitan area for a day. One week later, Collier's memorial service was attended by more than 10,000 people, in a ceremony hosted by the MIT community with thousands of police officers from the New 


exhibited as a member of the MIT community and in all aspects of his life". The announcement further stated that "Future recipients of the award will include those whose contributions exceed the boundaries of their profession, those who have contributed to building bridges across the community, and those who