MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

Incubators Need Heat

John and Anna Hillier
'60
(Anna Hillier worked in the Drafting Room, 20A-109, in 1966)

The name describing Building 20 as a Magical Incubator is an accurate description, since incubators need heat and Building 20 had a lot of it. All the machinery in the building created so much heat that the radiators in the drafting room were turned off permanently. As a result, one day the window was left open and the boss's tropical fish nearly froze over a weekend. They did, however, recover. The drafting room had a dehumidifier except all the humidity was exhausted into the Ozalid Room.