Oliver R. Smoot

Oliver R. Smoot
Born (1940-08-24) August 24, 1940 (age 84)
Bexar County, Texas, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationBS, Economics, Political Science, and Mathematics (1962)
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation(s)Expert witness, retired
Known forUnit of measurement known as a smoot
Height1 smoot

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.[1][2][3]

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.[4][5]

  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.