Prof. John Winthrop's Home

Cambridge, MA

In these Cambridge rooms between 1955 and 1976, James D. Watson helped drive the revolution in molecular biology that followed the discovery of DNA's structure. From here he also planned the revival of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which he went on to direct. The site marks a nerve center of postwar American science.

Cambridge, MA

In October 1958, MIT fraternity pledge Oliver R. Smoot was laid end-over-end 364 times to measure the Harvard Bridge over the Charles River, giving the world a delightfully absurd unit: the Smoot, equal to his own five-foot-seven height. The bridge came out to '364.4 Smoots plus one ear,' and the paint marks his Lambda Chi Alpha brothers laid down have been faithfully repainted by generations of pledges ever since. This plaque, dedicated to Smoot, MIT Class of 1962, marks the 50th anniversary of a prank that outlived its pranksters' expectations.

Milton, MA

Founded by MIT graduate Abbott Lawrence Rotch as a private scientific station, the Blue Hill Observatory took its first weather observations on February 1, 1885 — a record that has continued unbroken ever since. That makes it the oldest continuously operating weather station in the nation and a benchmark for global climate study. Once run by Harvard for six decades, it now serves as a nonprofit climate station, museum, and educational center.

Cambridge, MA

In 1630 the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony chose this spot on the Charles River to be their capital, and the next year Thomas Dudley led settlers to build the town they called New Town. Six years later the colony voted to plant its new college here, and in 1638 the settlement was renamed Cambridge in honor of the English university where many Puritan founders had studied.