In 1958, MIT students used one freshman to measure the Harvard Bridge — and invented the ‘smoot’

What began as a fraternity initiation task turned into local history for Oliver Smoot. Back in October 1958, Smoot was one of the MIT freshman students who pledged to Lambda Chi Alpha. In order to get into the fraternity, he had to complete certain tasks that were set by the pledgemaster. One of them was to measure the Harvard Bridge using his own height. Smoot was chosen because he was the shortest of them all. 68 years later, the 'smoot' markings are still visible on the bridge, and have been repainted annually. Smoot recently spoke to The Register to share his monumental experience that became a unit of measurement.

How did Smoot measure the 'smoot'?

The Harvard Bridge, also referred to as the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, connects the university town of Cambridge with Boston. Back then, Smoot and his friends decided to complete the task at night because they were going to paint on public property whenever they measured a 'smoot.' He began by lying down on the sidewalk at the beginning of the bridge while his friends measured. Smoot spent about 1.5 hours repeatedly lying down across the bridge. As per The Crimson, he had to lie down over 300 times to measure the entire bridge.

Each 'smoot' measured 5 feet and 7 inches (68.4 inches in total), while the entire length of the bridge was covered by "364.4 smoots and an ear." He recalled that a police car drove by to see what they were doing, and they had to run and hide. "Luckily, it wasn't when we were in the middle of the bridge. It would be a long run," he told the news outlet. Measuring the Harvard Bridge with one's own height may seem bizarre, but that was not the only bizarre task thrust upon them. The freshmen students also had to wear a burlap sack covered in maple syrup for three days.

Is 'smoot' a legal unit of measurement?

Although the 'smoot' is not a formal legal unit of measurement, it has been recognized locally, as well as by Google Earth, which you can find in its "Distance unit" section. The American Heritage Dictionary also added 'smoot' to its list in 2011. The police officers in the area would often use it to mark traffic incidents. Over the years, the 'smoot' markings have been consistently repainted so that local history would not be lost.

In 1987, when the Harvard Bridge had to be renewed, the Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission made sure the 'smoot' markings were not lost. To make it better, they also changed the measurement of the sidewalk slabs from the usual 6 feet to 5 feet and 7 inches, which comes out to 68.4 inches. The Commission recognized their importance and said, "We recognize the smoots' role in local history. That's not to mean that the agency encourages graffiti painting. But smoots aren't just any kind of graffiti. They're smoots!"

Where is Oliver Smoot now?

Oliver Smoot is retired and living in San Diego. After he graduated from MIT, he went to Georgetown for his Juris Doctor (law degree). But instead of following the same career path, he pivoted and managed a team of programmers, using the first transistorized computers in 1604. Later on, he made use of his law degree and worked with his father's friend in the Information Technology Industry Council.

With time, Smoot worked up the career ladder and became the Chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) from 2001 to 2002 and the president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) from 2003 to 2005. His name and legacy live on, as two of his sons went to MIT. One of them even got the nickname 'son of Smoot.'

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