MEASURING UP

How a student prank became an official form of measurement.

As part of an annual practical joke with an engineering twist, in 1958 a group of MIT students decided to measure the Harvard Bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, using an unusual unit of measurement—a student named Oliver Smoot. At 5’7,” Ollie was the shortest among them. To determine the bridge length in “smoots,” Ollie lay down on the bridge at one end, and his friends made a mark in paint; then he pushed himself up and lay down again, and again, and again. “About 100 smoots in, he had done about 100 push-ups.” He did this 365 times until the students determined that the bridge measured 364.5 smoots and one ear. Along the way, Ollie tired out, and his friends had to carry him: “Heave ho! One smoot. Heave ho! Another smoot.” What might have been a quirky student prank became legend, with students repeating the challenge each year; today, it’s a silly, STEM-inspired way for young readers to see themselves as a form of measurement. Lacika stretches an amusing anecdote about the origin of the “smoot” as a unit of measurement into a picture book–length story, while Bron’s quiet, methodical illustrations incorporate numerical symbols, use the bridge design as a type of ruler and frame, and have some fun with perspective. The students are racially diverse.

A fun way to introduce a nonstandard form of measurement.