Smoots

They have been announcing the Nobel Prize winners this week. Mike noticed yesterday that a winner had the last name of Smoot. He was wondering if it was the same Smoot of MIT fame. Alumni of MIT and Boston residents know about the guy named Smoot who attended MIT years ago. Apparantly Smoot was drunk, and his friends proceeded to measure a bridge across the Charles River using him as a unit of measurement. Over the years his fraternity would continue to paint the Smoot measurements on the bridge. I am sure that I have messed up the story, so I apologize for any gross inaccuracies. I visited the MIT website today, and this it what I found.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/smoot.html