July-August 2005

AT ODDS I was dismayed to see the Faculty of Arts and Sciences mounting their protests against President Lawrence H. Summers’s suggestion…

The island nation of Madagascar boasts not only one of the highest levels of species diversity on earth, but also unparalleled rates of…

Patents—a form of governmental protection to prevent ideas from being sold or used by someone else without permission—have a long and…

In the fall of 2001, Americans drastically revised their travel habits. “Driving went up, and flying went down,” says David Ropeik…

Few Supreme Court justices, after their appointments, have drastically changed their fundamental views of law and life. Most justtices, after…

Miss Leavitt’s Stars: The Untold Story of the Forgotten Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe, by George Johnson (W.W. Norton…

Mike Kempson requests a source for the following exchange, possibly from an old poem: “It was just the other day that the Gray Swan sailed…

The polymathic Nicholas D. Humez ’69—silversmith, author, banjoist, classical philologist, composer of operas and string quartets…

Novelist and teacher of writing Nicholas Delbanco ’63 explores a box in the attic in one of nine essays, “In Defense of…

Take a stroll around Harvard Square this summer and you’ll find a multitude of activities for all ages, ranging from the Summer Pops…

Jonathan Gorham ’71 recently helped his mother move from a retirement community in Maine to an assisted-living apartment closer to where…

The West Side Lounge is a fun little restaurant. On a Thursday night, the waitress greeted with a genuine smile—as if she’s glad we…

Not long ago, a psychiatrist in private practice telephoned associate professor of psychiatry Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist…

The National Sleep Foundation’s 2005 survey found that 75 percent of American adults experience symptoms of a sleep problem at least a few…

One of Sigmund Freud’s great complaints about his mistreatment in life was that although he won a literary award for his famous book The…

By the time Elizabeth Bishop settled into her apartment on the Boston waterfront, in recently refurbished Lewis Wharf, it was 1974. She was 63…

Things have never been as good for India as they appear to be today. Its economy has grown by nearly 6 percent annually for the past…

In 1911 the little Fogg Art Museum mounted the only one-man museum exhibition to occur during his lifetime of works by Hilaire-Germain-Edgar…

“In this perilous, suffering world and in this deeply troubled nation,” as John Lithgow ’67, Ar.D. ’05, characterized…

Two women and six men received honorary degrees at Harvard’s 354th Commencement. Provost Steven E. Hyman introduced them to the…

NOBLE BEAST Professional bomb-sniffer Tara, a two-year-old golden/lab/vizsla from Holland, made organizers breathe easier by checking out…

In her Senior English Address, “Perfect Imperfection,” Alicia J. Menendez ’05, whose concentration was women, gender, and…

In his afternoon address, President Lawrence H. Summers focused on “perhaps the defining development of our time,” the…

Before he narrated the poetic adventures of Mahalia Mouse, the female rodent who became a scientist (rather than the subject of a scientific…

[T]he fourth and last thing that I learned at Harvard Business School, and the thing that may be most important to the people here today, is to…

The reports of the Task Force on Women Faculty (WF) and the Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), released on May 16, share a…

In the early 1980s, when Thomas W. Lentz was earning a Ph.D. at Harvard by becoming an expert on Islamic art—Persian painting in…

Following President Lawrence H. Summers’s comments last January on women’s interests and aptitudes as they might affect careers in…

1915 One hundred-plus Harvard men and their families sail from New York City via the Panama Canal to San Francisco to attend the annual meeting…

Preliminary land-use plans for campus development in Allston have yet to be subjected to public review and comment (see “Allston Options:…

On Arts First weekend, poet Maxine Kumin ’46, A.M. ’48, a Bunting Institute Fellow in 1963, became the eleventh recipient of the…

The Supreme Court is set to consider how military recruiting may be conducted on campuses when the armed forces’ “Don’t ask…

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) devoted much of its last three regular spring business meetings to reports on the undergraduate…

Calling “effective transportation” the “most critical” of the issues Harvard faces as it plans for expansion into…

An expressed aim of the curriculum review is to assure College graduates’ scientific literacy in the twenty-first century. Summarizing the…

At each Commencement, Harvard confers 6,500 or so degrees, on everyone from College students who have navigated their undergraduate years to…

In the wake of its March 15 vote that it “lacks confidence” in his leadership (see “At Odds,” May-June, page 55), the…

Philip Fisher Howard Georgi Rose Licoln / Harvard News Office Kris Snibbe / Harvard News Office Margo I. Seltzer Lino Pertile…

The appointment of Thomas professor of government and sociology Theda Skocpol as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS)…

Since 1969, Harvard has had a Committee on African Studies (CAS), an interdisciplinary group of scholars who sponsor seminars and fund summer…

Business Dean’s Calling In response to a May 25 call from President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…

Crew The heavyweight men won their third consecutive national title at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) regatta in Camden, New…

More students are venturing abroad, for term or summer study or other experiences, with the College’s encouragement. The first of two…

It is week 3 of my Sommersemester at the Freie Universität in west Berlin and finally—finally—I am hitting my stride. “In…

Bioethicists like R. Alta Charo ’79 operate where scientific innovation butts up against cultural ethos. As a professor of law and…

Each June, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal, first awarded in 1989 on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the…

Three alumni were publicly thanked by President Lawrence H. Summers for their exceptional service to the University during the HAA’s…

The names of the new members of the Board of Overseers and the new directors of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) were announced at the…

Four seniors have won Harvard Cambridge scholarships to study at Cambridge University during the 2005-2006 academic year. Physics concentrator…

The University had received $493 million in donations through May 31 of the fiscal year, according to University Treasurer James F. Rothenberg…

Philip Keene Photograph by Jim Harrison Bertha Offenbach Fineberg Photograph by Jim Harrison The oldest graduates of Harvard and…

Nautical educator Roger Taylor Benjamin Brewster / Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Multifaceted boating enthusiast Roger Taylor…

Military physicians (left to right) Eldon Bell, Miguel Palos, Robert Yarrish, and (below) Graham Hoffman Courtesy of Miguel Palos…

"Your wooden arm you hold outstretched to shake with passers-by." The secretary of the class of 1947 has asked for the help of…

John James Audubon described the stentorian voice of the ivory-billed woodpecker in his Ornithological Biography, prose descriptions of the…