1. 1992: In an elaborate escapade called Cathedral of Our Lady of the All-Night Tool, Lobby 7 was converted into a pagan basilica, complete with pews, altar, confessional, and tablets of hexadecimally numbered commandments ("Thou shalt not divide by zero," "Thou shalt not exceed the speed of light"). In MIT-speak, a tool is a study-aholic.
2. 1994: A look-alike of a campus police car was hauled atop the Great Dome. The cruiser was outfitted with a mannequin, a box of half-eaten doughnuts, and a parking ticket that read no permit for this location.
3. 1995: Three giant Scrubbing Bubbles were affixed to the exterior walls of the MIT Media Lab, known for its tiled look.
4. 1958: Freshman Oliver Smoot's body was used to measure the length of the nearby Harvard Bridge. Total distance: 364.4 Smoots plus 1 ear.
5. 1972: The Bruno, "a unit of volume equal to the size of the dent in the asphalt resulting from the six-story free fall of an upright piano," was first calculated. It measures 1,158 cubic centimeters. (The piano, traveling at 43 mph on impact, released 45,000 foot-pounds of energy.)
6. 1982: A 6-foot weather balloon was inflated by remote control at the 46 yard line during the second quarter of a Harvard-Yale game.
7. 1982: At that same game, students handed out placards to 1,134 Harvard fans, who were told they would form the message beat yale when flashed en masse. The spectators discovered (too late) that they spelled out M-I-T.
8. 1998: On April Fool's Day, MIT's homepage was rebuilt to announce that the Walt Disney Company had purchased the institute for $6.9 billion.
9. 2000: Student Center elevators were turned into "cybervators." Each floor selection prompted a summary of what might be found on that floor and sometimes a sarcastic remark like, "There's a basement? Who knew?"
10. 1962: On Halloween, the Great Dome was turned into the Great Pumpkin.
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