On Halloween of our freshman year, Oct 31, 1962, hackers turned the Great Dome into a huge orange pumpkin. This is considered one of the most memorable images of our tenure at the Institute, so it was chosen as the symbol of our Web page.
The face of the pumpkin was made of triangular piceces of black cloth which were strung together and hung from the dome and retaining wall. The orange color was provided by placing orange gels over the lights that illuminate the dome.
Follow this link to read J Craig Wheeler's 1996 description of the carrying out of the Great Pumpkin Hack of 1962.
Click on the pumpkin here, or any of the small images on our other pages to return you to the Class Of 1966 home page.
This image is taken from the front cover of The Journal of the Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery, and Pranks at MIT. This publication of The MIT Museum is now in its third printing, and is available from the Museum shop. The photographer is unknown.
The MIT Museum
265 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Reproduction of the image of the "Great Pumpkin Hack" from our freshman year was
done with the permission of the MIT Museum.