“Computers loom large in the world of tomorrow,” declared an October 1968 article in the University of Waterloo Quarterly. “They will help educate children, run complex industrial plants, revolutionize the communications industry; they will drastically alter the way we shop for food, clothing and other merchandise.”
The article accompanied a photo of the brand-new Mathematics and Computer (MC) building, which was completed earlier that year. It was the largest building on campus, and featured the biggest and fastest computer in Canada at the time: a testament to the Faculty of Mathematics’s focus on cutting-edge technology and innovation.
Today, we are living in the world of tomorrow predicted by that writer, and Mathematics 4, the Faculty of Math’s cutting-edge new building, is scheduled to be completed in 2027: just in time for the sixtieth anniversary of the Faculty.
In honour of Math 4, we’re looking back at the other buildings on Waterloo’s “Math Campus,” and how they came to be.