The William F. Marlar Faculty Lounge, located in the Center for Space Research (37-252), is a conference room available to all the MIT community. The room's dimensions are 54 feet by 30 feet and it seats up to 70 people; a kitchen facility adjoins the lounge. Click here to see a map showing the rooms dimensions and layout. For further information on reserving the room call Arlyn Hertz at X3-1456.
The William F. Marlar Memorial Faculty Lounge was established in 1969 and continues to be supported through the William F. Marlar Memorial Foundation, founded in memory of William F. Marlar.
William Marlar owned a cab company in Denver, Colorado called Bill's Cab Company. Which continues to operate in Denver today under the name Zone Cab Company. Marlar had a passionate interest in Space Sciences and space exploration. Upon his death, Mrs. Freida M. Marlar, his wife, took control of the Zone Cab Company and through it set up the William F. Marlar Memorial Foundation, an educational foundation memorializing her husband's interest in space by assisting scholars in the space sciences. Following Mrs. Marlar's death, the majority of the assets went into the foundation. The trustees, who administer the foundation, are also the directors of the Zone Cab Company.
In February 1969, MIT submitted a proposal to the Marlar Foundation to support room 37-252 (Building 37 opened in April 1968). MIT requested funds to be used to promote space sciences and the Marlar name by supporting space science activities as well as bringing MIT staff members, faculty, and students together for informal discussion and exchange of ideas. In April 1969 a grant was authorized for the creation and maintenance of the William F. Marlar Memorial Faculty Lounge at MIT in Room 252 of the Center for Space Research.
Thanks to the generosity of the Officers and Trustees of the William F. Marlar Foundation, the Marlar Lounge continues to serve as the focus of MIT's Center for Space Research and as one of MIT's most popular meeting places. It is the site of regular weekly colloquia and seminars on astrophysics and space science, as well as numerous other educational activities.
The Marlar Lounge is home to several exhibits about space science and exploration.
--The map of the United States is a Earth Resource and Technology Satellite (ERTS) composite or mosaic of many pictures taken over many months in order to produce a cloud free image.
--The spare antenna for the Radar Altimeter Pioneer Venus Orbiter was launched in 1978. Gordon Pettengill, former director of the MIT Center for Space Research, was the Primary Investigator for this experiment which was fabricated by Hughes Aircraft.*
--The spare from the Plasma Experiment on Voyager. It's counterpart on Voyager measures solar wind as it travels past various outer planets. Voyager was launched in 1977 and has flown by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and is now on its way out of the solar system towards "interstellar " (uncharted) space between the stars. This experiment was constructed at MIT. Herb Bridge was Primary Investigator. The names of all those at MIT who worked on the experiment are engraved on the circular cup.
--The OSO-7 (Gold) is a four color x-ray experiment flown on the Orbiting Solar Oberservatory #7. George Clark was the Primary Investigator for this experiment.
--The Plasma Experiment on the Mariner Venus Mercury Satellite. It was launched in 1973 and traveled to Venus and then visited Mercury three times as it orbited the sun.
Note: Between the Experiment on Voyager and the Experiment on the Mariner Venus Mercury Satellite, MIT Plasma experiments have visited all of the solar system's planets except for Pluto.
--An accurate model of the close stars around the sun in this solar system of the Milky Way Galaxy was donated by Phil Morrison.
--There is a collection of 7 largecolor reproductions of astronomical photographs, most of them from the Hubble Space Telescope.
*All other experiments on exhibit were fabricated at MIT.
