<p>Just re-read Sam's post on RB Woodward and it really got me wondering about the "legends" who have attended MIT in the past (obviously going on to do great things)- namely, woh are they, what did they do at MIT as undergrads to make them famous, and what did they do afterwards?</p>
<p>One to start off the list-</p>
<p>Name: RB Woodward</p>
<p>General Activity: See Sam's post about this guy; he apparently founded modern spectroscopy while an MIT student, was expelled, re-initaieted, then earned his doctorate only a year later.</p>
<p>The "thing he did at MIT that made him a legend": </p>
<p>
[quote]
Now, at MIT, passing a typical class earns you 12 units of credit, because it's expected that you spend about 12 hours per week attending lectures, doing readings, and working on problems sets specifically for that class. RB was entering his last semester at MIT when he discovered that he still needed 186 units of credit left to graduate. This was particularly unfortunate because there are only 176 hours in the standard week. Undaunted, RB enrolled in the requisite 15 and one-half classes. Not only did he have to skip most of his lectures and problem sets in order to pass all of these classes, RB had overlapping tests, so he had to calculate which tests he could skip and which tests he could take.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Also I know Alex Wissner-Gross was a Big Deal because he was the last one to triple-major, as well as revolutionzing modern nanotechnology before he even attended the Institute. o_O</p>
<p>My friend's TA in 18.02 was a junior or a senior (memory is foggy) who had by last semester taken enough math classes here (something like 7 or 8 per term) to have graduated with three degrees in mathematics. Not a biggie, but a now-ie.</p>
<p>And an unofficial triple-major in math is kinda funny.</p>
<p>I know someone who took 10 courses in one semester and passed them all with high grades (I think Bs and As).</p>
<p>Can I chime in? ;) Thanks.</p>
<p>Although where I'm at, everyone graduates in 3 years with the same number of credits (if not more) as any 4-year university, there are some students who graduate with DUAL degrees.......in 3 years....</p>
<p>And also, there was a romanian last year (so I hear) who had 75 credits in first year (usual is around 40). He aced them all but unforunately commited suicide afterwards (might not be related to academic pressure though).</p>
<p>But yeah, triple major by junior year beats all.</p>
<p>EDIT - And I forgot to mention, one of my friends' (romanian) roommate AP'ed so many freshman courses that he is thinking of graduating in 2 years....</p>
<p>Mr friend left highschool with 54 credits, graduated in 1.5 years (engineering major) from UT Pan American and was hired by Boeing immediately.</p>
<p>Smart guy and hard worker, but not an MIT legend.</p>
<p>I don't remember his name(sad, because I have read a lot about him) but there was a guy who went to MIT in his early teens, and was a professor around the age of 20... he developed an algorithm to fold a paper a finite number of turns and make one cut to create any object. It is used by NASA in unfolding solar panels from optimum configurations I know.</p>
<p>The guy's a beast.</p>
<p>goodness, now i feel so ... sub-par</p>
<p>Yes, I remember Alex Wissner-Gross. He lived on my floor and was allegedly the last one to triple major in the "holy trinity" 6, 8 and 18.</p>
<p>He once told me something like this:</p>
<p>"You first must get the tools to learn about the world (Course 18), then you have to learn about the world (Course 8), before you can mess with the world (Course 6)"</p>
<p>Even if the guy doesn't exist, the dude on armageddon was a beast:</p>
<p>"<solves rubiks="" cube="" and="" throws="" aside=""> I love this place! You know why? I'm a genius! I won the westinghouse prize when i was 12, had a double doctorate from MIT at age 22..."</solves></p>
<p>or the colleague of the presidents scientific advisor(same movie):</p>
<p>"Yes sir, I know the president's scientific advisor... he's my colleage at MIT. The fact is, he's wrong and I am right. How you can take the opinion of someone on this issue who got a C- in astrophysics is beyond me..."</p>
<p>I hear MIT people are rather humble though...</p>
<p>Sagar Erik Demaine is the guy you were talking about.</p>
<p>Erik Demaine didn't go to MIT. Google him and look at the CV.</p>
<p>He did become a faculty member at MIT at age 20.</p>
<p>I thought the guy Sagar was talking about is fictional..?</p>
<p>Yeah I thought so to... he looks like a crank in the movie Armageddon. He's the guy who thinks he's going to die on the asteroid and picks out a nice spot to watch the fireworks when it hits earth.</p>