How Rocket Science Made Its Way Into Major League Baseball and the Strike Zone

Dr. Victor Tom's talk was first given at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016, and then subsequently at many Rotary Clubs from Iowa to the UK. It chronicles how (at an innovative defense company) he leveraged camera mapping technology to win the America's Cup in 1992 and then in 2000 help Major League Baseball re-establish the correct strike zone, thereby changing the way home plate umpires call balls and strikes. A history of the events surrounding the development gives a rare glimpse into all of the problems, technically and politically, that he had to overcome.

Dr. Victor Tom received his BS, MS, and ScD, all from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Dept. at MIT. He has worked at a number of defense companies and MIT startups and is currently a Chief Scientist at BAE Systems in Burlington, MA.  Dr. Tom is a third generation Rotarian, Past President of the Rotary Club of Bedford, Past District Governor of District 7910 (Central MA and MetroWest Boston) and advisor to the MIT Rotaract Club.  He is actively involved in leading a group of Rotarians in supporting the MIT PKG IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge by assisting students refine innovative projects designed to help underserved populations around the world.  He is also building a network of MIT alumni Rotarians to help fund humanitarian projects at and originating from MIT in the 7 Rotary focus areas.