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Oliver Reed Smoot, Jr. (born August 24, 1940) is an MIT alumnus who was chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) from 2001 to 2002 and president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) from 2003 to 2004.

In 2011, American Heritage Dictionary admitted his decapitalized surname, smoot, meaning a distance of 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), as one of the 10,000 new words added to their fifth edition. The term is named for Smoot from his undergraduate days when he was used as a unit of measurement on the Harvard Bridge at MIT during a fraternity pledge activity.

Early life and education

Smoot was born August 24, 1940, in Bexar County, Texas. He attended MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and obtained a Bachelor of Science in 1962. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he obtained his JD.

Career

From 2000–2005, he served as vice president for external voluntary standards relations of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). Prior to that, he was ITI's executive vice president for 23 years.

Smoot gave a speech to a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Subcommittee on Technology on March 20, 2000, titled "The Role of Technical Standards in Today's Society and in the Future".

He returned to MIT on October 4, 2008, for a 50th anniversary celebration, including the installation of a plaque on the bridge. Smoot was also presented with an official unit of measurement: a smoot stick. On May 7, 2016, he served as the grand marshal of the parade marking the centenary of MIT's moving from Boston's Back Bay into Cambridge.

Personal life

Smoot lives in San Diego with his spouse Sandra Smoot. He is also a representative of the MIT Education Council. He has two sons, both of whom also attended MIT.

Smoot is a distant relative of Senator Reed Smoot.

References

1. "Speakers Bureau: Oliver R. Smoot". American National Standards Institute. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
2. Hall, Ralph M. "In Honor of an Outstanding American and His Work as President of the International Standards Organization: Oliver R. Smoot". GovInfo. Government Publishing Office. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
3. "Oliver Smoot" at Geni.com
4. Cornish, Audie (November 13, 2011). "Looking Up Words in a Book Not So Strange Yet". National Public Radio. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
5. "American Heritage Dictionary entry". American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
6. "Newsletter of the MIT Alumni Club of San Diego" (PDF). sandiego.alumclub.mit.edu. April 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
7. Harris, David (October 7, 2008). "Say Hello to Mr. Smoot of Smoot Fame". Catanbrigia. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
8. "Smoot and roll". New Scientist (2671). August 27, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
9. Annear, Steve (January 25, 2016). "MIT to host 'Moving Day' parade and celebration". Boston Globe. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
10. Fleming, Nicole (May 7, 2016). "By land and by water, MIT celebrates 100 years in Cambridge". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
11. "Someone San Diego show know", San Diego Tribune, October 9, 2020
12. "Washington Talk; Not Smitten With Smoot". New York Times. November 16, 1987. Retrieved May 23, 2022.

External links

• "The Role of Technical Standards in Today's Society and in the Future". Speech. Subcommittee on Technology: Hearing before the House Science Committee. September 13, 2000. Archived from the original on December 16, 2004. Statement of Oliver R. Smoot Acting Chairman, American National Standards Institute
• "Smoot, Namesake of a Unit of Length, Retires". Interview. All Things Considered. NPR. December 7, 2005.
• Curran, Susan (December 19, 2005). "A Salute to Smoot". Salute. Archived from the original on June 20, 2015. Smoot makes his mark in standards and measurements
• Tavernor, Robert (2007). Smoot's Ear: the Measure of Humanity. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12492-7.
• "Someone San Diego should know", San Diego Tribune, October 9, 2020

• 1940 births
• Living people
• Georgetown University Law Center alumni
• Lambda Chi Alpha
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni