Dedicated to the Mad Engineer
Scarce pictorial map produced for the January 1949 California Engineer magazine's annual Mad issue, dedicated to the Mad Engineer.
Fascinating whimsical map of UC Berkeley illustrating the many buildings, lecture halls, underground tunnels and facilities including the Radiation Lab, which make up the Science buildings of the University of California at Berkeley. This particular edition is devoted to the Mad Engineer, and contains a number of articles and stories celebrating (or lamenting) the fine edge between insanity and genius across the department.
The image is packed with whimsical and ephemeral humor, which no doubt had significant meaning to the campus student body in 1949. The Campanile appears as a giant oil derrick. Includes an early depiction of a Berkeley Engineer with roach clip.
The California Engineer began in 1903 as the California Journal of Technology. It was the first college magazine in the west to specialize in the area of science and technology. In 1923, the magazine was renamed "California Engineer" by the Student Engineers Council.
The comical map is centered around Sather Tower with a cutaway view of the subterranean network below the halls at the University of California at Berkeley. Includes Sather tunnel, Leconte Hall, Gilman Hall, Wheeler Auditorium, The Radiation Laboratory housed the research at UC Berkeley during WWII under the Manhattan Project. Note the IBM punch card machine gag at bottom left.
At the bottom is a note: "Tear out this drawing and present for at Cowell between 9:00 and 9:10 for a Free Eye Exam by Dr. Kronkheidt."