The Babson Globe is a globe located in the campus of Babson College in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...

. Weighing 25 tons and with a diameter of 28 feet (8.5 meters), it was the world's largest rotating globe when it was built in 1955.

Eartha Eartha is the world's largest rotating and revolving globe, located within the former headquarters of the DeLorme mapping corporation in Yarmouth, Maine. Garmin purchased the company and the building in 2016. The globe weighs approximately 5,600 ...

, located in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

as of 2016, later surpassed Babson's record. The globe was an idea of

Roger Babson Roger Ward Babson (July 6, 1875 – March 5, 1967) was an American entrepreneur, economist, and business theorist in the first half of the 20th century. He is best remembered for founding Babson College. He also founded Webber College, now Webb ...

, the College’s founder. He came up with the idea of building the globe in 1947 as a way of promoting interest in world affairs. In the first years, the globe attracted thousands of visitors annually, but by the late 1970s, the globe had fallen into disrepair. The porcelain-baked steel tiles that covered the globe (recreating the continents and oceans) fell off in 1984 and for the next 9 years the globe looked like a big and rusted ball. In addition, during the 1980s, the machinery that made the globe spin stopped working. Due to the state of disrepair, in 1988 the administration of the college decided to demolish the globe. In response, students and faculty led by C. Christopher Lingamfelter and Professor Larry Meile formed a committee called "Save the Globe", which was able to raise funds to restore the globe. In 1993 the globe was restored, featuring 506 vinyl panels and the most advanced satellite imagery available at the time. In 2018, the globe was restored again and moved from Coleman Hall to the Kerry Murphy Healey Park, where it was unveiled in May 2019, as part of the centennial commemoration of the college.

References

Globes Babson College {{map-stub

See also

References