Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science

The MIT School of Science is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The school is composed of 6 academic departments and grants S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. or Sc.D degrees. The current Dean of Science is Professor Michael Sipser.[1] With approximately 300 faculty members, 1200 graduate students, 1000 undergraduate majors, the school is the second largest at MIT. 16 faculty members and 16 alumni of the school have won Nobel Prizes.[2]

Biology

The Department of Biology (Course VII) began as a department of natural history in 1871.

Brain and Cognitive Sciences

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Course IX) began as the Department of Psychology in 1964.[3]

Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry (Course V) was one of the original departments when MIT opened in 1865.[4]

Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

The Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences[5] (Course XII or EAPS) traces its origins to the establishment of MIT by the eminent geologist William Barton Rogers in 1861. Before distinguishing himself as the University’s founder and first president, Rogers was a professor of natural philosophy and chemistry. He also served as State Geologist of Virginia, which explains why geology courses have been taught at MIT for more than a century.

In 1983, EAPS was formed through the merger of two MIT departments: the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, which grew out of the first geology courses, and the Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, which had its roots in the meteorology courses that first emerged at MIT in 1941.

Today, EAPS offers an expansive range of scientific study unlike any other in the country. The department seeks to understand the fundamental workings of natural systems by examining physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring across a vast spectrum of time and space. Their highly integrated research requires direct observation as well as modeling, and the department thrives on interdisciplinary ventures that open new avenues of exploration.[6]

Mathematics

Department web site Department of Mathematics (Course XVIII)

Physics

The Department of Physics (Course VIII)

Affiliated laboratories and centers

Center for Cancer Research

Nice

Center for Global Change Science

The Center for Global Change Science (CGCS) at MIT was founded in January 1990 to address fundamental questions about climate processes with a multidisciplinary approach. In July 2006 the CGCS became an independent Center in the School of Science. The Center’s goal is to improve the ability to accurately predict changes in the global environment.

The CGCS seeks to better understand the natural mechanisms in ocean, atmosphere and land systems that together control the Earth’s climate, and to apply improved knowledge to problems of predicting climate changes. The Center utilizes theory, observations, and numerical models to investigate climate phenomena, the linkages among them, and their potential feedbacks in a changing climate.

The director of the CGCS is Professor Ron Prinn from MIT.

Center for Ultracold Atoms

The MIT–Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) is a collaborative research laboratory between MIT and Harvard University.

The core research program in the CUA consists of four collaborative experimental projects whose goals are to provide new sources of ultracold atoms and quantum gases, and new types of atom-wave devices. These projects will enable new research on topics such as quantum fluids, atom/photon optics, coherence, spectroscopy, ultracold collisions, and quantum devices. In addition, the CUA has a theoretical program centered on themes of quantum optics, many-body physics, wave physics, and atomic structure and interactions.

The Director of the CUA is Wolfgang Ketterle (a 2001 Nobel laureate in physics) from MIT.[7][8]

Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory

Formerly considered the world's premier high-field magnet research center. Closed after National Science Board decided in 1990 to locate the new National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University. MIT appealed the decision unsuccessfully, at the time the first appeal of an NSB decision.[9]

McGovern Institute for Brain Research

Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

References

  1. "Dean`s Message - MIT School of Science". science.mit.edu.
  2. "About MIT's School of Science". MIT. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  3. "About BCS/History". MIT. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  4. "MIT Chemistry: History of the Department". MIT. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  5. "MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences - MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu.
  6. "MIT EAPS: History". MIT. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  7. Mass. Inst. of Tech., Research Lab. of Electronics, MIT–Harvard Ctr. for Ultracold Atoms. (2009). "Contact". Retrieved 2009-10-19. (“Director: Ketterle, Wolfgang … MIT …; Co-Directors: Doyle … Harvard …; Kleppner … MIT …”)
  8. National Science Found., Comm. of Visitors of the Div. of Physics. (2006). Report of the Committee of Visitors to the Division of Physics (PDF) (FY 2006 ed.). PHYcov_06.pdf (“The 2001 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to the [Bose-Einstein condensates] work of … Wieman, … Cornell and … Ketterle.”)
  9. Prabhat Mehta (September 18, 1990). "NSB denies MIT magnet appeal". The Tech.
  • Official website
  • "MIT History - School of Science". libraries.mit.edu.

Coordinates: 42°21′29″N 71°05′35″W / 42.358°N 71.093°W / 42.358; -71.093

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