Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Turning extreme heat into large-scale energy storage: Fourth Power, founded by Professor Asegun Henry, is developing thermal batteries for efficiently storing excess electricity from utility grids and power producers. Henry’s approach earned him a Guinness World Record for the hottest liquid pump back in 2017. news.mit.edu/2026/turning-e…

Over the past decade, MIT engineers have been working on ways to restore hepatocyte function without a surgical liver transplant. Injectable “satellite livers” could offer an alternative to liver transplantation. news.mit.edu/2026/injectabl…

Data centers are projected to account for anywhere from 9 to 17 percent of total electricity usage in the U.S. by the end of the decade. Today, around a third of data center electricity is devoted to cooling the chips that run AI models. That’s the process Ferveret is working to make more efficient. news.mit.edu/2026/nuclear-i…

How can we recreate the power of the sun? That question started as a class project for Zach Hartwig and led to one of science’s biggest challenges. Today he and his team at Commonwealth Fusion Systems are helping bring fusion energy down to earth. Read his story: curiositymission.org/stories/cfs/ #CuriosityOnAMission

MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar. Their findings add to a longstanding mystery in cosmology: Why do supermassive black holes exist so early in the universe’s history? news.mit.edu/2026/mit-astro…

As we celebrate 250 years of American independence, we are reminded that MIT was founded in the same spirit: to advance knowledge, foster innovation, and serve the country through education, research, and discovery. understanding.mit.edu

MIT President Kornbluth and MA Governor Healey announced plans for the new Quantum Systems Lab at @MIT, which will accelerate development of next-generation quantum technologies to enable the commonwealth to remain a national hub for quantum innovation. news.mit.edu/2026/new-labor…

How do some skills become second nature? MIT researchers are uncovering how the brain turns repeated actions into automatic behavior, offering new insight into learning, habit formation, and performance. news.mit.edu/2026/how-some-…

The startup Foray Bioscience, founded by an MIT alumna, is engineering plants from single cells to create new materials and protect endangered species. news.mit.edu/2026/designing…

Every year, about 85,000 Americans are diagnosed with bladder cancer. While treatment is often successful, bladder cancer has one of the highest rates of recurrence of any cancer. MIT researchers have now developed a new way to regularly monitor those patients, which could enable regrowing tumors to be detected much earlier. news.mit.edu/2026/new-senso…

🧵 Footnotes 1/10 [1] MIT News Photo, via MIT Museum. Trump with 3MV cancer treatment generator (Building 28). [2] Eisenstadt, Alfred for LIFE Magazine, via Google Arts & Culture . Trump with unknown student. 1949 2/10 [1] HVEC photo. 1962 HVEC annual report (Feb. 1963), NYT Sept 1963. Image source: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Denis Robinson, Trump, and Van de Graaff and HVEC Burlington facility [2] Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 8, September 1937, p. 602. Image source: Megan Smith [3] Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), May 1956. Image source: MIT Archives MC 0223 Box 8, Photo 34, D Series. Trump with Kenneth A. Wright at MIT High Voltage Research Lab 3/10 [1] NYT/Wide World, published in MIT Technology Review, Dec 1931, via MIT Museum. Van de Graaff at American Institute of Physics inaugural dinner, Nov 10, 1931 Washington, DC. [2] MIT Dept. of Electrical Engineering. via MIT Museum (GCP-00024651). Trump and student with Oncologic Generator No. 2 , 1940. [3] HVEC. Marketing brochure. n.d. 4/10 [1] MIT Radiation Lab. 1941. Originally published: Five Years at the Rad Lab (p.15). Albert Hayes in the Roof Lab. [2] Unknown [3] MIT Radiation Lab. 1945. Originally published: Five Years at the Rad Lab (p.183) Director Trump with Advanced Service Base in Paris. 5/10 [1] Associated Press. April 8, 1945, via MIT Museum, GCP-00024649 6/10 [1] Napoleon Sarony. Image source: Nikola Tesla Museum, via Wikipedia [2] Wikipedia user Aspersions, via Wikipedia 7/10 [1] HVEC photo. 1962 HVEC annual report (Feb 15, 1963). Image source: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Denis Robinson, Trump, and Van de Graaff and HVEC Burlington facility [2] HVEC. HVEC JR Model brochure, before 1954 8/10 [1] William Vandivert, Fortune Magazine, 1950. Image source: MIT Archives [2] MIT Department of Electrical Engineering, n.d. via MIT Museum [3] MIT Department Electrical Engineering, c. 1965, via MIT Museum 9/10 [1] Boston Museum of Science, via Wikipedia [2] Boston Museum of Science plaque, MJ Smith. 10/10 [2] MIT Dept of Electrical Engineering, via MIT Museum GCP-00024633. Trump in N10 Director’s Office, 1965.

Prof. John G. Trump not only embodies the spirit of thousands of MIT faculty and researchers past and present—he was a foundational figure in the public-private innovation engine that has engaged broad talent and secured America's technological dominance for generations. His curiosity and determination led him on scientific missions that continue to serve us all. 10/10

Radar for national defense. Radiation therapy for public health. Research in nuclear science, materials, food and environmental safety solutions, and training youth. All were born from a partnership among a brilliant mind, generations of his students, a university, and a government that, over decades, valued the power of investing in science. 8/10

Returning to his lab at MIT from the war, John G. Trump led the spin-out of his research, founding High Voltage Engineering Corp in Cambridge with Drs. Van de Graff and Robinson in 1946. HVEC, funded by America’s first modern venture capital firm, became the template America follows today, including Silicon Valley: translating cutting-edge university research and government investment into market innovations. 7/10

Like Turing and Hopper, John G. Trump was tapped to help the Allied war effort. He joined the National Defense Research Committee as technical aid to then MIT President Karl Taylor Compton eighteen months before Pearl Harbor and became a key builder of MIT's Radiation Laboratory—work that revolutionized radar technology and brought a swifter end to the war. 4/10

In 1943, when Nikola Tesla—legendary engineer and inventor—passed away in his NYC hotel room, the FBI called MIT Prof. John G. Trump, whose expertise made him the person they trusted to evaluate Tesla's innovations and determine their significance to national security. 6/10

John G. Trump led the British Branch of the MIT Rad Lab in 1944 and is seen here in Paris driving Dr. Lee DuBridge, the lab’s director. He was forward deployed with Eisenhower’s central command, supporting radar integration for D-Day and after, as part of FDR’s strategy for leveraging tech innovations in the war effort. 5/10

At MIT, John G. Trump found more than a collaborator in Robert Van de Graaff—he discovered the kind of visionary partnership the Institute works to foster. In the revolutionary high-voltage work they explored, this MIT duo saw healing power that saved thousands of lives. Then came WWII. 3/10

A newspaper essay about the president’s uncle, MIT Prof. John G. Trump, tells the extraordinary history of his role in D-Day. But there is much more to the story. We’d like to share more about Prof. J.G. Trump as we knew him—a scientist, engineer, educator, entrepreneur, patriot, and MIT legend whose work still impacts us all today. ⚡️🧵1/10 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/…

John G. Trump was an electrical engineer who began his career at Western Electric (Bell Labs) in the 1920s. In 1931, he started a PhD at MIT, where he was introduced to the legendary MIT professor Robert Van de Graaff. Their decades-long collaborations would unlock wonders in physics and medicine and train hundreds of students. 2/10