THE GREAT SUBWAY RACE OF 1967

See a 5-minute preview video here: https://vimeo.com/212423979

Fifty years ago this month an M.I.T. computer whiz kid named Peter Samson and a group of his schoolmates attempted one of the most audacious stunts in the history of the New York City subway system – but almost no one knows about it.

Until now.

On Friday, April 21, Michael Miscione, the Manhattan Borough Historian, will interview Peter and one of his schoolmates, George Mitchell, as they recount the Great Subway Race of 1967.

That year Peter used M.I.T.’s most advanced computer — a mainframe about the size of a passenger elevator — to calculate the most efficient route to ride the entire subway system in the least amount of time. In their wild attempt to break the existing riding record the team employed payphones, runners, and a teletype hook-up between a makeshift “data center” in midtown Manhattan and the mainframe in Cambridge, Mass.

Come to the event and find out how it all played out.