In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the University gets a radio station, a movie filmed on campus premieres in town, and more.

December 15, 1940—WPRB’s predecessor, WPRU, gets its start with daily broadcasts from 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. The campus radio station has humble beginnings; as the Daily Princetonian reports, “signals may possibly penetrate as far as the Graduate College.”

December 16, 1966—The Princeton Township zoning board grants the University a variance to allow for the building of Fine Hall Tower.

December 17, 1884—Princeton students leave for a two-week break that the Daily Princetonian has editorialized will not be sufficient: “The great part of the student’s body will be worn out by the strain which preparation for examinations necessitate. And the vacation which begins at that time will not be taken as the fulfillment of a long established custom, but of physiological laws which require that nature should be allowed to rebuild what the examination system has destroyed.”

December 19, 1994—I.Q., a movie set in a highly fictionalized version of Albert Einstein’s Princeton and filmed on campus and around town, premieres at the Garden Theatre on Nassau Street. The movie tells the love story between Einstein’s (Walter Matthau) fictional niece, Catherine (Meg Ryan), a Princeton University Ph.D. candidate in mathematics, and Ed (Tim Robbins), a local mechanic. Catherine’s fiancé, James (Stephen Fry), a Princeton psychology professor, proves to be an obstacle to the union of Catherine and Ed, until Einstein and his friends help Ed win Catherine’s heart (scientists Nathan Liebknecht (Joseph Maher), Kurt Gödel (Lou Jacobi), and Boris Podolsky (Gene Saks)).

For last week’s installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

Like this: Like Loading...