Oliver R. Smoot
Oliver R. Smoot | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 24, 1940 Bexar County, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BS, Economics, Political Science, and Mathematics (1962) |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation(s) | Expert witness, retired |
| Known for | Unit of measurement known as a smoot |
| Height | 1 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.
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. The bridge measures 364.4 smoots.