If I had a hammer and a pointier hammer…

I’m a CC student, and the last time I had a class in Mudd was Frosci four years ago. Nevertheless, I have taken it on as my duty to answer a pressing question for SEAS. What majors would benefit the most by using the hammer and pointier hammer on the logo?

Before getting to the best ones, one has to be specifically mentioned as the worst: Electrical Engineering.

While it may be tempting to hit a non-functional component, I’m pretty sure the hammer is conductive (it doesn’t look like the handle is made out of a different material from the head), so I’m pretty sure if you were to hit any electronics with it you would shock yourself. Maybe stick to the oscilloscopes and soldering irons, although I can imagine it would be a worse logo if those were behind the crown.

Now, on to the leaderboard:

Honorable mention: Earth and Environmental Engineering

While I haven’t confirmed it, this sounds a lot like geology. I’m sure there are a lot of rocks to hit, which has got to count for something, at least. The pointy hammer is probably similarly useful, especially if you found a rock in the wild and needed to get a small sample back to the lab. I’m sure the hammer could also be useful to intimidate climate change deniers, although I haven’t confirmed if this use is specific to this major.

3: Computer Science

These two hammers will become critical if your computer ever becomes sentient. All of the hysteria about ChatGPT or whatever AI du jour is out there becomes moot if you can simply swing a hammer at the motherboard. Just make sure it’s not connected to the cloud or whatever, then you may just make it angry.

2: Biomed

Biomed is based on the intersection of biology, medicine, and engineering, as per their website. They focus on developing new medical technologies and contributing to the science that allows us to solve some of the most complex diseases of our time. One tool designed in this industry is the small triangular hammer that doctors use to test reflexes. While the two hammers on the SEAS logo may be a bit larger, I have no doubts they could be used instead in a crisis.

1: Applied (Nuclear) Physics

Coming in at number one is applied physics. The history of the nuclear program in America began in Pupin (or at least that’s what Columbia tours say) but for decades the way that this program began has been classified as top-secret information. There was a clue for how they did it, lying in plain sight, however. They simply used the pointy hammer to break an atom of Uranium-235, decomposing it into two fission fragments and two neutrons, along with some energy.

SEAS logo via Bwog Archives