Coincidence? Alumni of Pomona College don’t think so. One of the first things new Pomona students learn is that 47 is the number. Aside from the many occurrences of 47 in the random universe, there are several Pomona 47’s that are a part of college lore: the Claremont Colleges are off exit 47 of I-10; there are 47 pipes in the pipe organ of one music hall; there were 47 students enrolled at the time of Pomona's first graduating class; one of the dorms was dedicated in 1947 and the dedication plaque has 47 letters. And in 1964, Pomona math professor Donald Bentley proved that all numbers equal 47 (actually, he proved that all numbers equal all other numbers so why not 47?). For a fuller listing, see the Pomona website, or the site for the 47 Society.

While Pomona-ites have long understood the magic of 47, the rest of the world has more recently been introduced to 47 through the TV show Star Trek: The New Generation. A Pomona alum was a writer for the show and began inserting 47s into the script whenever he could - one of the show’s producers liked the joke and the rest is history. For an exhaustive listing of all the 47s in the Trek series (47 became a part of Deep Space 9 and Voyager as well), see The 47 Conspiracy.
 
 

Now that you know about the power of 47, I'm willing to bet that you start seeing it everywhere...

Last revised June 21, 1998