TEN years ago, in the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council chambers, a whimsical, Rube Goldberg-inspired chain reaction launched the first Cambridge Science Festival. The MIT students who built the intricate machine stayed true to the well-known, playful humor of MITers; they used an oversized red sneaker to perform the Festival “kick off.” Since 2007, the Festival has carried forth the spirit and creativity of that first chain reaction. In fact, the Festival is a chain reaction. Through community building and public outreach, the Festival has triggered a decade of interest, excitement, and fun around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). The ripple effects of its growing programs have steadily extended the Festival’s geographic boundaries. While still thriving in Cambridge, the Festival now touches communities across the Commonwealth.
TENacious Engineering is a project to celebrate the Festival’s TENth Anniversary. Inspired by the first kick-off, TEN teams, spanning the state from North Adams to Cape Cod, have been hard at work constructing TEN original and fascinating chain reaction machines. And these aren’t any old teams. They each reflect unique partnerships linking college departments, museums, organizations, high
pink flamingos, and drones – oh my! On the evening of April 15, at the Festival's Big Ideas for Busy People event, Governor Charlie Baker will unveil a short film. In this film, the chain reactions will count down to the Festival's TENth Anniversary opening via a meta chain reaction that links all TEN machines together. Machine TEN will set off machine nine, and the chain reaction will proceed in sequence until machine one sets off the Festival itself. Watch closely. You might even catch a glimpse of that red sneaker!
The MIT Museum team was the first to complete their chain reaction (see photos). The other nine TENacious Engineering teams are working, largely in parallel, with little knowledge about what the other teams are doing. They must, however, coordinate the exit and entry points that link neighboring machines in the meta chain reaction. What will the chain reactions look like? How will they all link together? We can’t wait to find out! In subsequent CSF blog posts, we will check in with these teams and learn about their chain reaction experiences.
Were you at the State House for the first Festival kick-off?
What do chain reactions mean to you?
Try your hand at chain reactions and other engineering feats at one of these Festival events...
