Q 01/05

MIT is located in which city, across the Charles River from Boston?

A) Cambridge

B) Somerville

C) Newton

D) Brookline

Answer · why

A) Cambridge

Cambridge. MIT spent its first half-century in Boston, then ferried its charter across the river on a ceremonial barge in 1916 to open the new campus.

Q 02/05

Which war began two days after MIT was chartered?

A) War of 1812

B) Mexican-American War

C) Civil War

D) Spanish-American War

Answer · why

C) Civil War

The Civil War. Governor John Andrew signed the charter on 10 April 1861 and the fighting began two days later, so MIT's first classes had to wait unti...

Q 03/05

MIT's founder William Barton Rogers led Virginia's first state survey as a scientist in which field?

A) botany

B) zoology

C) geology

D) meteorology

Answer · why

C) geology

Rogers's field was geology, and legend has it that his last words were 'bituminous coal': he collapsed and died while addressing MIT's graduating clas...

Q 04/05

By what informal name was MIT known in its early decades in the Back Bay?

A) Back Bay Poly

B) The Conservatory

C) Rogers College

D) Boston Tech

Answer · why

D) Boston Tech

Boston Tech. The name lasted half a century, until the school, cramped and short of money in the Back Bay, finally found the funds to move across the ...

Q 05/05

MIT was funded in its early years under which 1862 federal law?

A) the Morrill Land-Grant Act

B) the Homestead Act

C) the Pacific Railway Act

D) the National Banking Act

Answer · why

A) the Morrill Land-Grant Act

The Morrill Land-Grant Act gave states land to fund colleges 'for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts', so Massachusetts used it for both...