MIT Museum 150 Exhibition

To mark the 150th anniverary of MIT, the MIT Museum put together the MIT 150 Exhibition. Included in this exhibition was a display featuring historical pictures of the Sharp lab. From the MIT Museum website: Lab Life, Sharpies, Photo Mural Documenting Members of Prof. Phillip Sharp’s Laboratory, 1974–2010 Fundamental to any understanding of MIT is the vibrant lab culture filled with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from around the world. Every lab is different; every lab is the same. The research and methods are as varied as the imagination; the intensity, curiosity, ambition, and cleverness of the students are common across the board. One joins a lab to be trained in the business of advanced research from one’s mentor as well as one’s peers. The research, publications, patents, and projects undertaken in a given lab are vital assets for an individual’s future career. Each lab forms an invisible college, a network of intellectual and social relations that shapes more than an individual scientist’s career—these networks also shape the future of science and technology. Visitors to Professor Phillip Sharp’s old office on the fifth floor of building E17 always commented on the extensive collage of images created by his assistant Margarita Siafaca. The images here underscore the importance that Sharp—and all MIT faculty—place on training the next generation of researchers and scholars.

(click picture for larger image) Photographs by Justin Knight, Newton, MA