Category Archives: All years

Year 92 – 1952: The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Published: New York, 1952 Hailed by many as the father of modern photojournalism, Henri Cartier-Bresson here presents the culmination of twenty-five years of work. By this point in his life, Cartier-Bresson had shared New York gallery space with Walker Evans; had escaped from a Nazi POW camp on his third attempt, after nearly three years of forced labor; and had co-founded Magnum Photos, an international photo cooperative that remains in operation today (one of his co-founders was Robert Capa, who was featured in our posting for 1938). Previously a painter, Cartier-Bresson describes the interlude when he came to photography, which […]

Year 91 – 1951: “Non-cooperative Games” by John Nash, in: Annals of Mathematics 54 (2)

Published: Princeton, N.J., 1951 Over the past 60 years, game theory has been one of the most influential theories in the social sciences, pervasive in economics, political science, business administration, and military strategy – the disciplines most consulted by the powers-that-be for “real-world,” high-stakes decisions. But just as there would be no semiconductors or (God forbid) laser pointers if not for the abstruse mathematics of quantum theory, game theory can be traced back to theoretical work by academic mathematicians. In a set of papers in the 1950s, mathematician John Forbes Nash set forth breakthrough ideas that helped transform game theory […]

Year 3 – 1863: The Engineer’s Pocket Remembrancer: An Epitome of Data, Rules and Formulae by Francis Campin

Published: London, 1863 Until late in the 20th century, once an MIT student had determined a major – say, physics or mechanical engineering – he or she would purchase a relevant handbook, with the expectation that it would serve as a handy and valuable reference tool for years and years. For mechanical engineers it was Marks’ Standard Handbook; chemical engineering majors bought Perry’s; for physicists it was CRC. The MIT Libraries also bought copies of these and many others, all of which saw heavy use. But the handbook paradigm has shifted. The Libraries still purchase handbooks, but they’re made available […]