List of Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Encyclopedia
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
has had 18 presidents (16 inaugurated, 2 acting) in its 150-year history, as of 2011.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
has had 18 presidents (16 inaugurated, 2 acting) in its 150-year history, as of 2011.
- William Barton RogersWilliam Barton RogersWilliam Barton Rogers was a geologist, physicist and educator. He is best known for setting down the founding principles for, advocating for, and finally obtaining the incorporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1861...
(1862–1870, 1879–1881) - John Daniel RunkleJohn Daniel RunkleJohn Daniel Runkle was a U.S. educator and mathematician. He served as acting president of MIT from 1868–70 and president between 1870 and 1878.-Biography:Professor Runkle was born at Root, New York State...
(1870–1878) - Francis Amasa WalkerFrancis Amasa WalkerFrancis Amasa Walker was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and military officer in the Union Army. Walker was born into a prominent Boston family, the son of the economist and politician Amasa Walker, and he graduated from Amherst College at the age...
(1881–1897) - James CraftsJames CraftsJames Mason Crafts was an American chemist, best known for developing the Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions with Charles Friedel in 1876.-Biography:...
(1897–1900) - Henry Smith PritchettHenry Smith PritchettHenry Smith Pritchett was an American astronomer and educator.-Biography:Pritchett was born on April 16, 1857 in Fayette, Missouri, and attended Pritchett College in Glasgow, Missouri, receiving an A.B. in 1875. He then took instruction from Asaph Hall for two years at the US Naval Observatory...
(1900–1907) - Arthur Amos NoyesArthur Amos NoyesArthur Amos Noyes was a U.S. chemist and educator. He served as the acting president of MIT between 1907 and 1909. He received a PhD. in 1890 at Leipzig under the guidance of Wilhelm Ostwald. Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson was one of his famous students. Noyes served as Professor of Chemistry at the...
(acting 1907–1909) - Richard Cockburn MaclaurinRichard Cockburn MaclaurinRichard Cockburn Maclaurin was a Scottish-born U.S. educator and mathematical physicist. He was made president of MIT in 1909, and held the position until his death in 1920....
(1909–1920) - Elihu ThomsonElihu ThomsonElihu Thomson was an American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France.-Early life:...
(acting 1920–1921, 1922–1923) - Ernest Fox NicholsErnest Fox NicholsErnest Fox Nichols was a U.S. educator and physicist. He was born in Leavenworth County, Kansas, and received his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University in 1888. After working for a year in the Chemistry Department at Kansas State, he matriculated to graduate school at Cornell...
(1921–1922) - Samuel Wesley StrattonSamuel Wesley StrattonSamuel Wesley Stratton was an administrator in the American government, physicist, and educator.Stratton was born on farm in Litchfield, Illinois on July 18, 1861. In his youth he kept farm machinery in repair and worked as a mechanic and carpenter...
(1923–1930) - Karl Taylor ComptonKarl Taylor ComptonKarl Taylor Compton was a prominent American physicist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948.- The early years :...
(1930–1948) - James Rhyne KillianJames Rhyne KillianDr. James Rhyne Killian, Jr. was the 10th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1948 until 1959.-Career:...
(1948–1959) - Julius Adams StrattonJulius Adams StrattonJulius Adams Stratton was a U.S. electrical engineer and university administrator. He attended the University of Washington for one year, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , from which he graduated with a bachelor's...
(1959–1966) - Howard Wesley JohnsonHoward Wesley JohnsonHoward Wesley Johnson was a U.S. educator. He served as dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management between 1959 and 1966, president of MIT between 1966 and 1971, and chairman of the MIT Corporation from 1971 to 1983.-Education and early career:Johnson graduated in 1943 with a bachelor's degree...
(1966–1971) - Jerome WiesnerJerome WiesnerJerome Bert Wiesner was an educator, a Science Advisor to U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy and Johnson, an advocate for arms control, and a critic of anti-ballistic-missile defense systems...
(1971–1980) - Paul Edward GrayPaul Edward GrayPaul Edward Gray was the 14th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated from M.I.T. in 1954 with a degree in Electrical Engineering where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He subsequently obtained an M.S. and Sc.D from M.I.T. in 1955 and 1960, and then...
(1980–1990) - Charles Marstiller VestCharles Marstiller VestCharles "Chuck" Marstiller Vest is a U.S. educator and engineer. He served as President of MIT from 1990 until December, 2004. He was succeeded as President by Susan Hockfield. On February 6, 2004, he was appointed to the Iraq Intelligence Commission by President George W. Bush...
(1990–2004) - Susan HockfieldSusan HockfieldSusan Hockfield is the sixteenth and current president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hockfield's appointment was publicly announced on August 26, 2004, and she formally took office December 6, 2004, succeeding Charles M. Vest. Hockfield's official inauguration celebrations took...
(2004–present)