"One of the terrific aspects of MIT in those days was the enormous variety of experimental work that either took place there or was talked about in seminars by outside speakers aggressively recruited by the faculty"
About this Quote
The key tell is “aggressively recruited by the faculty.” It’s an unromantic verb that signals strategy, not serendipity. Great research environments don’t happen because brilliant people accidentally collide; they’re curated through institutional will. The faculty aren’t passive gatekeepers; they’re talent scouts building a pipeline of surprises. Subtext: the frontier of physics was treated as something you go out and capture, not something you wait for.
Laughlin, a theorist known for insisting on the messy reality of condensed matter, is also quietly arguing for epistemic humility. “Experimental work” is framed as “terrific” not because it confirms theory, but because its variety multiplies what counts as possible. The nostalgia isn’t about older tech or simpler times; it’s about a culture of open-ended contact with the unknown, sustained by seminars as social infrastructure. In an era when universities can drift toward branding, metrics, and narrow specialization, his line reads like a reminder: the point is to keep the doors swinging and the questions unpredictable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Laughlin, Robert B. (n.d.). One of the terrific aspects of MIT in those days was the enormous variety of experimental work that either took place there or was talked about in seminars by outside speakers aggressively recruited by the faculty. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-terrific-aspects-of-mit-in-those-days-28104/
Chicago Style
Laughlin, Robert B. "One of the terrific aspects of MIT in those days was the enormous variety of experimental work that either took place there or was talked about in seminars by outside speakers aggressively recruited by the faculty." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-terrific-aspects-of-mit-in-those-days-28104/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"One of the terrific aspects of MIT in those days was the enormous variety of experimental work that either took place there or was talked about in seminars by outside speakers aggressively recruited by the faculty." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-terrific-aspects-of-mit-in-those-days-28104/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
