"My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English"
About this Quote
The specific intent feels calibrated: establish credibility without sounding like you’re establishing credibility. “Professor of civil engineering at MIT” is a cultural shorthand for rigorous, systems-minded intelligence, but it’s also pointedly not physics. Civil engineering carries connotations of pragmatism and infrastructure, suggesting a home environment where problem-solving was concrete, applied, and respectable. Then the counterweight: “high school English.” That detail widens the frame. It hints that Cornell’s formation wasn’t only technical; it was also shaped by language, argument, and the social craft of teaching adolescents. In other words, a scientist who learned early that ideas don’t just have to be correct; they have to be communicated.
Subtextually, the line is a quiet rebuttal to the romance of scientific isolation. Breakthroughs emerge from ecosystems: family expectations, educational models, and the cultural prestige of certain institutions. Cornell’s matter-of-fact delivery also signals a scientist’s preference for variables over melodrama. The context is a familiar move in interviews and biographies: situating a public intellectual in a lineage that makes their later achievements feel less like lightning and more like architecture.
Quote Details
| Topic | Family |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Cornell, Eric Allin. (2026, January 17). My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-was-a-professor-of-civil-engineering-at-28080/
Chicago Style
Cornell, Eric Allin. "My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-was-a-professor-of-civil-engineering-at-28080/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-was-a-professor-of-civil-engineering-at-28080/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
