“What on earth is a Smoot?” was the question John and I found ourselves pondering in Boston, standing on Harvard bridge on our way to MIT.
This unit of measure became the perfect metaphor for the distance travelled on our recent journey across America promoting Cyclone Sage. Sage is our new AI assistant part of Orthrus Software Cyclone designed to support nuclear engineering and fusion workflows. It was a trip full of amazing experiences with some serious science folded in too.
A Smoot it turns out is precisely the length of MIT student Oliver Smoot (5 ft 7 inches), who continuously lay down end-to-end across the Harvard Bridge in 1958, creating one of academia’s most eccentric units: the bridge is exactly 364.4 Smoots long, plus or minus one ear.
We began in Chicago at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) conference lots of familiar faces, introducing our AI assistant, Cyclone Sage. Designed to streamline the creation of input decks for MCNP, Cyclone Sage garnered significant interest and thoughtful discussion. It was great to see enthusiasm for an AI solution carefully tailored to meet the needs of the nuclear sector.
Aside from the conference, Chicago itself was a brilliant city. We marveled at the city’s skyline, took in views along the iconic Chicago River, and tackled the legendary deep-dish pizza. Let’s just say we hit a delicious but formidable “cheese wall” at Lou Malnati’s, a battle both John and I lost.
Leaving Chicago, we toured Argonne National Laboratory, an epicentre of nuclear history and cutting-edge research. Here, we glimpsed the remarkable High-Energy Photon Source an immense, ring-shaped facility where researchers worldwide collaborate on groundbreaking science.
A highlight was the chance to touch a graphite block from the historic Chicago Pile, the world’s first nuclear reactor. Additionally, we learned a great deal about Argonne’s pioneering work in sodium-cooled reactor technology.
Our trusty GMC Sierra V8 pickup truck carried us eastward on the I90. It was absolutely massive but very comfortable and suprisingly easy to drive, it powered along towering us above almost everything. We arrived late at a rather quirky hotel; it was a brief but memorable pitstop. Our sights were firmly set on reaching the stunning spectacle of Niagara Falls the following day.
Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame paid tribute to iconic British bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and even… Def Leppard, FYI Bon Jovi is the most recent addition to the Hall of Fame. After our visit we found a Spotify playlist with 100s of hall of fame hits, it got us through the many miles of driving. As we continued, we visited Harley-Davidson which was very cool, we had to resist swapping the pickup for two hogs.
Arriving at Niagara Falls was amazing, especially after hearing enthusiastic reviews from people we’d chatted with at ANS. They suggested we cross the Rainbow Bridge into Canada for the best views, and they weren’t wrong. Fortunately, the border officials let us back into the States after buying quite a lot of maple syrup.
Leaving the interstate we drove through the tranquil Finger Lakes region. We stopped at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, where a huge eagle statue stands on the roadside. Birdwatching with binoculars from the Nuclear Talent Scout at ANS was great, thanks for freebie they were put to good use.
We carried on the drive and made a memorable stop in the lakeside town of Skaneateles, enjoying pastries and coffee. The locals found it quite amusing when we said “cheers” after receiving our coffees apparently that doesn’t quite translate in the US (along with other phases like “we need to get a wriggle on” and “that’ll take donkeys years”). The town was distinctly upmarket with lots of American flags, the same with all the towns we drove through, it was quite a sight.
Cooperstown took us to the history of baseball, revealing how it united communities across the states. We unfortunately missed attending a ball game in Chicago due to heavy rain, but there’s always next time! Springfield offered us some excellent German cuisine from a local recommendation, reminding us how cultural influences are very broad across American.
Battleship Cove near Boston gave us a look into maritime history, exploring the USS Massachusetts and USS Swordfish, a humbling reminder of the bravery of people during WW2. Experiencing the confined spaces and harsh conditions onboard made us appreciate just how tough life must have been for the people who spent months at sea. We then drove to Boston, after 4 days of travelling we were both tired but there was no time to waste we were straight into the SOFE conference the next day.
In Boston, our focus turned to fusion energy at the Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE), where we were warmly welcomed by familiar faces. All of the fusion industry leaders were present, UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS), Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Tokamak Energy, Proxima Fusion just to name a few. A highlight was a bespoke tour given by Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin (MIT) who showed us around cutting-edge LIBRA tritium breeding work. We expressed our gratitude with a limited edition Cerberus Nuclear mug and some Yorkshire Tea, essential provisions for any fusion scientist.
Our poster session promoting Cyclone and Cyclone Sage for fusion neutronics analysis was very well attended. The level of engagement was fantastic; both John and I nearly lost our voices from the sheer number of people we spoke to.
Visiting Commonwealth Fusion Systems’s SPARC was genuinely impressive. The rapid progress made has only heightened my excitement for fusion energy’s potential. Lookout from them in 2027 when its due to be turned on.
Of course, we couldn’t leave Boston without visiting where Smoots story began, it turns out I’m slightly taller than one Smoot. Most visitors walk across the Harvard bridge without really noticing the marks that are repainted every year making it a fascinating hidden piece of MIT knowledge.
If you would like to learn more check out Matt Parker’s brilliant Stand-up Maths video, "The bridge which is measured in smoots”.
So how far is Chicago to Boston, it's about 1005 miles or 1,061,280 smoots +- 1 ear, and probably quite a bit more if you include how many steps we did. With that our journey across America came to a close.
After all this it’s easy to forget this whole adventure was about Cyclone and Cyclone Sage. So if you’re curious what Orthrus Software are up to drop them an email (support@orthrussoftware.com) or just check out orthrussoftware.com.
