Harvard vs. MIT (part 2)

Early in my blogger career I wrote an article about the difference between Harvard and MIT. It was based on my initial impression of the two campuses. Now, a few months later, I got a chance to "peek under the hood" and understand the real difference between the two schools.

I had a chance to imerse myself in the Harvard environment by taking a couple of classes at Harvard Business School: Entrepreneurial Marketing and Energy. I love these two classes, by the way. The professors are great; the cases are relevant; the class contributions are solid. Plus, we get to meet the entrepreneurs who are the subject of these cases.

On the surface, the Harvard campus is a like a plush resort. Beautiful, manicured lawns, carpeted hallways, fancy cafeterias. Everything is spotless clean... and quiet! The students seem to match this environment: well-dressed, mature and very knowledgeable (intimidating at first, especially to an MIT student with only a hacker's knowledge of business fundamentals). The whole place oozes aristocracy. I mean, take a look at it!

If HBS is a plush resort, MIT is like a student dorm: messy hallways, busy corridors, tiny food establishments covered in posters, all sorts of experiments running around you (watch out so you don't trip over some wires or get in the way of some laser experiment). MIT is full of exhuberance, student curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit. I mean, where else would students find that the longest corridor in the school (the Infinite Corridor) can be used to measure the speed of light? The whole places oozes innovation.

(Above picture courtesy of http://web.mit.edu/planning/www/mithenge.html).

This is the Infinite Corridor at MIT. Twice a year, the sun's path crosses the axis of the corridor and you can see the sunset from the end of the 825 foot corridor. Becausue of the long, unobstructed path, the corridor was once used to demonstrate and calculate the speed of light. A laser pulse was fired from one end of the corridor and was reflected back from a mirror at the other end. The diference between the starting pulse and the return pulse was then displayed (and clearly seen) on an oscilloscope. That difference was the speed of light. Only at MIT!

Parabolas in the Sun

And here's what they look like...
We tried to start the system the other day, but we ran out of fuel....ahhhh, I mean sun. Just as we were priming the pumps and getting all the pieces ready for the turbine to start, the clouds came in and ruined our test (a reminder of the limitations of our system: no sun, no heat, no electricity). So we took one last team picture and packed up for the day.
The sad part is that the team had to split before getting a chance to see the system running. Matt, Amy, Libby and Headley left for the South Africa on Thursday afternoon leaving myself, Sam and Bryan behind to pick up the pieces and figure out what to do with this thing. With school starting I won't be able to spend as much time on it. But there is hope! An MIT class (G-lab) is taking interest in our project and will work with us to devleop a business plan for the recently incorporated non-profit. More on that later...