Hackapult Sieges The Dome by Chris Peterson SM '13

September 15, 2015

On Friday, September 4th, I arrived in my office shortly after 7AM. One of the lovely things about my office is that I have a window under the Great Dome, overlooking Killian Court. It’s a beautiful view, especially in the early rays of daybreak, when the sun strikes my solar-powered prism and sprays rainbows down the walls. While adjusting my standing desk and settling into my morning routine, I looked, as I so often do, out through the trees, onto the lawn, past the enormous catapult, and across the river to —

past the giant catapult.

Yes, there was a hack – a hackapult, to be more precise. According to the IHTFP Hack Gallery:

In an attempt to answer the age-old question of how hackers manage to access the dome, a multi-part hack appeared on the morning of September 4, 2015 which suggested one method: a catapult, nicknamed the “hackapult”, which was used to fling older hacks back on the Great Dome. The hack referenced numerous hacks which have appeared on the Great Dome in the past…[and] quickly gained the attention of the local Boston media, with three news copters flying overhead by 8:00am and two ground photographers shortly thereafter. The Boston Globe reported soon after with “In latest MIT hack, a tribute to pranks of years past”.

I stood outside admiring the hack for awhile with former blogger — and East Campus Historian — Danny B.D., as well as Chancellor Barnhart and Provost Schmidt, as the news crews assembled and traffic copters flew overhead.