The Smoot Plaque
(3 pix) I'd heard the story and seen the paint marks (now maintained by the City), but never saw the plaque:
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of
The Smoot
In October 1958 the span of this bridge was measured using the body of Oliver Reed Smoot MIT '62 and found to be 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear.
This provided a very useful metric for generations of bridge travelers since and the smoot has joined the angstrom, meter, and light-year as enduring standards of length.
Ollie's contributions to measurement continued after his raduation from MIT. He went on to head both the American National StandardInstitute and the International Organization for Standardization.
u/Nogodsnomasters — 10 days ago