MIT is a world leader in science and technology， as well as in many other fields， including management， economics， linguisticslinguistics n.语言学， political sciencepolitical science n.政治学， and philosophy. Among its most prominent departments and schools are the Lincoln Laboratory， the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory， the Media Lab， the Whitehead Institute and the Sloan School of Management.
MIT alumni and faculty include many prominent politicians， corporate corporate adj.社团的， 法人的， 共同的， 全体的executives， writers， astronauts， scientists and inventors. Fiftynine current or former members of the MIT community have won the Nobel Prize.
History
In 1861， the Commonwealth of Massachusetts approved a charter for the incorporation of the “Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Society of Natural History，” submitted by William Barton Rogers， a distinguished natural scientist. This was an important first step toward establishing what Rogers hoped would become a new kind of independent educational institution relevantrelevant adj.有关的， 相应的 to an increasingly industrialized America. With the charter approved， Rogers began raising funds， developing a curriculum and appraising suitable real estateestate n.状态， 不动产， 时期， 阶层， 财产. His efforts were hampered by the Civil War， and as a result its first classes were held in rented space at the Mercantile Building in downtown Boston in 1865.
Construction on the first MIT building was completed in Boston，s Back Bay in 1866. In the following years， it established a sterling reputation in the sciences and in engineering， but it also fell on hard financial times. These two factors made it a perfect fit in many peoples， eyes to merge with nearby Harvard University， which was flush with cash but much weaker in the sciences than it was in the liberal arts. Around 1900， a merger with Harvard was proposed， but was cancelled after protests from MIT，s alumni. In 1916， MIT moved across the river to its present location in Cambridge.
MIT has been at least nominally coeducational since admitting Ellen Swallow Richards in 1870， if not earlier. For some years past， it has admitted slightly more women students than men.
MIT，s prominenceprominence n.突出， 显着， 突出物 increased following World War II as the United States government began to fund projects at research universities with immediate or potential defense or national security applications (see Vannevar Bush， Lincoln Laboratory， and Charles Stark Draper Laboratory).
Throughout its history， MIT has focused on invention. An illustrative 1997 report showed that the aggregated revenuesrevenue n.收入， 国家的收入， 税收 produced by companies founded by MIT and its graduates would make it the twentyfourth largest economy in the world. In 2001， MIT announced that it planned to put course materials online as part of its Open Course Ware project. The same year， president Charles Vest made history by being the first university official in the world to admit that his institution had severely restricted the career of women faculty members and researchers through sexist discrimination， and to make steps to redress the issue. In August 2004， Susan Hockfield， a molecular neurobiologist， was appointed as MIT，s first female president. She took office as the Institute，s 16th president on December 6， 2004.
Today， admission to MIT is extremely competitive， and it has been ranked by The Atlantic Monthly and other publications as the most selective university in the United States. Its alumni magazine， Technology Review， is one of the only alumni magazines in the world to be sold on newstands as a mass market periodical. According to US News， it is one of five universities in the United States to consistently receive the highest peerpeer n.同等的人， 贵族 vi.凝视， 窥视 vt.与……同等， 封为贵族 assessment (“prestige”) score of 4.9/5.0， along with Harvard， Stanford， Yale and Princeton.
MIT in Popular Culture
MIT has been part of the background of a number of movies including A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Good Will Hunting (1997). MIT，s overall reputation has greater influence on its role in popular culture than does any particular aspect of its history or student lifestyle. Because the Institute is wellknown as a breeding ground for technology and technologiststechnologist n.技术专家， 工艺学家， 工艺人员， the makers of modern media are able to use it to establish character in a way that mainstream audiences can understand. Frequently， when a character in Hollywood cinema is required to have a science or engineering background， or in general possess an extremely high level of intelligence， the film establishes that he or she is an MIT graduate or associate. Characters will also often mention MIT in some fashion as a reference for someone，s intellectual prowessprowess n.威力.
On the other hand， some cinematiccinematic adj.电影的， 影片的 references to MIT betray a mild antiintellectualism， or at least a lack of respect for “book learning”. For example， Space Cowboys (2000) features the seasoned hero (Clint Eastwood) trying to explain a piece of antiquated spacecraft technology to a rather whippersnapping youngster. When the young astronaut fails to comprehend Eastwood，s explanation， he snaps that “I have two master，s degrees from MIT”， to which Eastwood replies， “Maybe you should get your money back.” Similarly， Gus van Sant，s introduction to the published Good Will Hunting screenplayscreenplay n.电影剧本 suggests that the lead character，s animosity towards official MIT academia reflects a class struggle： Will Hunting is a member of the Irish underclass， while the MIT faculty is the new “English aristocracy” (a metaphor， since Stellan Skarsg？rd is clearly not playing an Englishman).
Bill Amend，s FoxTrot has also made MIT allusions， in keeping with the strip，s genial satire of nerd subcultures. In a similar veinvein n.血管， 静脉， 叶脉， 翅脉， 矿脉， 纹理， 性情， 心绪 vt.使成脉络， 像脉络般分布于， the song “Etoh” by the electronic music group The Avalanches describes MIT as “the home of complicated computers which speak a mechanical language all their own”.
California Institute of Technology加州理工学院
