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The barge that fired off Boston’s Fourth of July fireworks show caught fire around 5 a.m. yesterday morning, six hours after the end of the show. The Boston Fire Department’s harbor unit extinguished the fire around 6...

Tim the Beaver made an appearance to admire the cake.

Alumni and friends dance to music by Boston City Rhythm during the Toast to Tech event on Saturday.

President Susan J. Hockfield prepares to give her charge to the graduates.

Fireworks light up the sky in front of the Prudential Center, MIT’s 750 feet high (134.32 Smoot) “birthday card.”

Some students displayed symbols representing their major on their mortarboards.

Seven thousand people arrived at Killian Court to celebrate MIT’s 150th birthday.

MIT President Susan J. Hockfield uses a sword to cut the MIT-shaped cake.

Professor Alex H. Slocum ’82 was just as excited as the graduates.

The class of 2011 was MIT’s 145th graduating class, which coincides with MIT’s 150th year. The discrepancy was caused because the Civil War delayed the start of classes.

A stuffed Pikachu is visible on one graduate’s mortarboard. Other creative designs included a graduated cylinder and flags of different nations.

Lightning appeared in the sky over Boston during the tornado and thunderstorm last week.

Balloons representing the class years of alumni present for their class reunions were scattered throughout Killian.

Ice sculptures of objects with significance to MIT’s history and the Toast to Tech event adorned tables around Killian.

On June 3, 983 undergraduates and 1,471 graduate students received their degrees.

An Army UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter visited Briggs Field for an inspection by MIT’s Army ROTC.