Professor Cooney 12/4/96 10.200 discussion:
"A goat turns out to be a relatively inexpensive bioreactor."
Bill Cutter 10/24/96 choir rehearsal:
"What's the difference between a soprano and a rottweiler?...
...jewelry."
Bill Cutter 10/3/96 choir rehearsal:
"Very good. You sound like a room full of small dogs."
At the same choir rehearsal:
Hungarian coach:
"Some of you sang szora instead of sora."
Bill:
"Oh, but how can that be?"
Professor Daniel Kemp 9/20/96 5.12 lecture:
[If Mattuck is Stephen Sondheim, then Kemp is Sweeney Todd.
Make of that what you will...]
"[Favorable equilibrium combined with high energy barrier]
is generally the case with high explosives.
Explosives without this barrier are not likely to store well.
A company which makes these is likely to go out of business unexpectedly."
same lecture:
"For those of you who chose chemistry
because of an excess of testosterone...
Well, that's why I got in:
the thought that I could make gunpowder.
And some of us did survive.
And some of us ended up teaching on university faculties.
I won't even tell you what happened to those of us who didn't.
Professor Kemp 9/18/96 5.12 lecture:
"The exam is graded by the TA's tomorrow after you take it -
so everyone is miserable tomorrow, essentially."
Professor Kemp 9/17/96 5.12 review session:
"Even if you're intuitive, it's sometimes good for the soul
to be logical and precise."
Professor Kemp 9/16/96 5.12 lecture:
"Haste deletes carbons."
Professor Kemp 9/13/96 5.12 lecture:
"Make some sort of noise - not too impolite - if you find that
truly repellant."
An exchange which happened between a student and TA in recitation:
Student, who is staring perplexedly at board:
"But how would I be know that?"
TA, who just explained it:
"Ummm...because I'm telling you that?"
Professor Kemp 9/9/96 5.12 lecture:
"It's early in the term - you should be able to observe this
before the mental rot sets in."
Professor Mattuck 4/8/96 18.03 lecture:
"...the math open house - I won't be there (except for food).
You'll meet real mathematicians there...like the Unabomber."
same lecture:
"So I got a call from this reporter giving me the title of his
[the Unabomber's] PHD thesis and asking what it's about.
I'm considering a new profession, but it's probably too late."
same lecture:
"This is the system in its most compact and unintelligible form."
Professor Mattuck 3/19/96 18.03 lecture:
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing studying convolutions?"
Professor Mattuck 3/15/96 18.03 lecture:
"Go home and sin over the weekend. And I'll see you Monday."
Professor Ralston, 3/13/96 21H346 lecture:
"This is very simpleminded economics. Don't take notes.
I may not know what I'm talking about."
Professor Mattuck, 2/28/96 18.03 lecture:
"You heard about it in 18.02. It's called a linear combination.
I know Hartley Rogers used those words.
He uses them passing my office in the hall."
Professor Mattuck, 2/21/96 18.03 lecture:
"You've reduced a second order equation you can't solve
to a first order equation you can't solve.
And that's called progress."
Professor Bawendi, Valentine's Day 5.60 lecture:
"Joule was on his honeymoon,
and he was measuring equivalences of work and heat in nature...
That's not what I meant..."