what is a smoot?
Crossing the Harvard Bridge (Massachusetts Avenue) on foot, one can track one’s progress by counting Smoots. These markings appeared in October 1958, and helpfully inform you that the length of the bridge is 364.4 Smoots plus one ear.
But what is a Smoot? This unique unit of measurement is named after Oliver R. Smoot ’62, a pledge of Lambda Chi Alpha in 1958. Smoot’s pledgemaster, Tom O’Connor ’60, thought of marking the Harvard Bridge in pledge lengths so that students crossing the bridge would know how far from campus they were. After examining the entire pledge class, O'Connor chose Smoot as the specified unit of length because he was the shortest (5'7"), thus ensuring a glorious legacy for the Smoot name.