It’s been nearly 20 years since two aviation technology students and their instructor — all experienced pilots — died in a plane crash at the Purdue Airport, but Tom Carney (T’71, MS A’77, PhD S’84) recalls the morning of September 12, 1997, vividly. Carney was one of two administrators who waited near the crash site […]
Perched on the seventh floor of Beering Hall, the 12-seat Vision 21 Conference Room commands one of the best views of campus. Jokingly referred to as the Jedi High Council Chamber among students because its circular design and band of windows evoke the Star Wars setting, the space was lauded as “a distinctive room for […]
Tucked away in the basement of the Purdue Memorial Union, an entire world is unfolding under the watchful eyes of members of the Purdue Railroad Club (PRRC). Prompted by advances in model train technology, the club tore out a nearly 50-year-old model in 2008 to rebuild the present-day layout. The new track, the third in […]
It’s minutes before kickoff and the crowd at Ross-Ade Stadium has fallen to a whisper. Thousands of fans are on their feet with their heads angled upward, hearts swelling with pride, tears pooling in the corners of their eyes. A rich baritone voice fills the air, the solemnity of the words echoing out across campus. […]
Generations of Cary Quad men will recognize the hand-drawn Risk table that has anchored student gathering spaces since the 1970s. It currently resides in the fourth-floor lounge of Cary Southwest. The strategy game released by Parker Brothers in 1959 is one of the best-selling board games of all time. But the identities of the students […]
The Purdue Entomological Research Collection (PERC) traces its origins to 14 cases of insect specimens held by Purdue’s Zoological Museum in 1879. Though nothing remains of those early collections, likely used for teaching, the present collection has grown to include nearly 2 million specimens, representing more than 140,000 species. “Without question, the PERC is one […]
One hundred years of problem solving started with one crazy idea. What came after was even crazier. Looking back on the spacesuit’s evolution to make sense of what’s coming next. “The spacesuit is a spacecraft. It does everything a spacecraft does, except reenter.” —Amy Ross (ME’94, MS ME’96) Few work uniforms have achieved iconic status […]
Tired Boy, the bronze sculpture centered in Windsor Circle near the entrance of Wood Hall, was part of a collection of gifts donated to the university by philanthropist and art collector Catherine Barker Hickox of Michigan City, Indiana. Its sculptor, Leopold Bracony, was inspired by an incident he witnessed during World War I. He noticed […]
