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September-October 2017

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Letters

Readers comment further on “Fair Harvard,” teaching the liberal arts, celebrity and politics, the middle class, and more.

President Drew Faust on the rise, and significance, of engineering and the applied sciences at Harvard

Making the faculty and research a high priority for the presidential search

The College Pump

Memorial Hall burning in September 1956—with flames beyond the reach of firefighting apparatus

Photograph by William Simon

A fresh source for Harvard humor, a critique embedded in a memorium, and historic photos of a famous campus fire

Treasure

The volume’s front cover features a needle-painted portrait of the young prince Charles Stuart.

Photographs by Jim Harrison/Object courtesy of the Houghton Library

Embroidery fit for a prince

In this Issue

Photograph by Elsa Dorfman

Elsa Dorfman, BI ’73, looks back on her photography.

Carl Thorne-Thomsen in high school (with fellow student-council member Linda Jones Docherty)

Photograph from Lake Forest High School 1964 Yearbook/Courtesy of Linda Docherty

Brief life of a man of principle: 1946-1967

To simply say that the White Cliffs of Dover are made of chalk would miss the point of Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World. The chalk giving the famous cliffs their white appearance was formed from the exoskeletons of plated marine microbes called coccolithophores. 

All images from Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World, by Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter. Copyright ©2017 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

On Earth, microbes run the show.

 

Photograph by iStock Images

Alec Karakatsanis puts “human caging” and “wealth-based detention” in America on trial.

Letters

Readers comment further on “Fair Harvard,” teaching the liberal arts, celebrity and politics, the middle class, and more.

President Drew Faust on the rise, and significance, of engineering and the applied sciences at Harvard

Making the faculty and research a high priority for the presidential search

Right Now

A surgical technique designed to preserve proprioceptive signals after amputation should allow patients to sense the location of their prostheses, feedback that is often compromised by convential surgery.

Image courtesy of Shriya Srinivasan

Improved surgical techniques enhance prosthetic function.

Illustration by Hanna Barczyk

Can a single molecule extend lifespan?

Illustration By Doug Panton

The combination of certain factors can determine whether a city is plagued with disease, or is a hub for innovation. 

Harvard Squared

The village grew up around the Meeting House, built in 1792.

Photograph by Alamy Stock Images

The Canterbury Shakers’ enduring appeal

A view of the State House dome and downtown’s towers, from the Charles River 

Courtesy of the Charles Riverboat Company

Boat tours of architectural gems

World’s End offers stunning views of Hingham Harbor…

Courtesy of the Trustees of Reservations

A day trip to Hingham

Branch Line, which pairs fresh fare with craft beers on tap, has transformed part of an historic building at the former Watertown Arsenal.

Photograph by Melissa Ostrow

Branch Line serves brasserie-style fare in an historic Watertown setting

John Harvard's Journal

Assembling the science and engineering complex in Allston (with work on the district energy plant distantly visible to the rear of the site)

Image from the SEAS Construction Cam

A campus construction program of unprecedented proportions

President Drew Faust

Photograph by Kris Snibbe/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

President Faust’s exit timetable, and the search for her successor

HarvardX project leader April Opoliner with Kolokotrones professor of biostatistics and epidemiology Miguel Hernán and teaching assistant Barbra Dickerman

Photograph by Stu Rosner

HarvardX transforms a popular course in epidemiology to serve a global audience.

Sunil Amrith

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The Bay of Bengal is central for this South Asia scholar.

A Harvard committee proposes eliminating unsanctioned student social organizations.

Derek Bok and other scholars weigh in on improving universities and colleges—and why that’s hard to do.

Illustration by Mark Steele

A Channel first, a voluntary U.S. history exam, and more from the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Harvard’s business and engineering faculties join forces on a new technology-design degree—before they co-locate in Allston.

George Andreou
Photograph by Michael Lionstar

New University Press director, new University Professor, changing Harvard Square, and more

Illustration by Rebecca Clarke

The Undergraduate contemplates cycles in college friendships.

Natasha Lasky and Tawanda Mulalu

Photograph by Stu Rosner

The Ledecky Fellows provide an undergraduate perspective on life at Harvard.

Tjerk van Herwaarden

Photograph by Gil Talbot/Harvard Athletic Communications

Under coach Tjerk van Herwaarden, Harvard field hockey ascends.

Montage

Though songwriter Dan Wilson mostly stays out of the spotlight these days…

Photograph by Devin Pedde

The Grammy Award-winning songwriter Dan Wilson reclaims his catalog.

The young Rachel Carson (1940); Abraham Lincoln, wearied by the Civil War (1864); and the Endurance in the crushing grip of polar ice

From Left: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Library of Congress (2)

The Business School’s Nancy Koehn analyzes the personal stakes that propel leaders.

Ensemble members reminisce in Party People, about the Black Panthers and Young Lords.

Photograph by Jenny Graham

Historical plays for a nation “stuck in the middle”

Malka Older

Courtesy of Malka Older

Sci-fi meets the political thriller.

The artist as master colorist: Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat (Femme au Chapeau), 1905

Wikimedia Commons

John Kenneth Galbraith’s letters, Linda Greenhouse, color in art, and more

The world’s most famous fruit-plucking: detail from Hugo van der Goes, The Fall (after 1479)

Painting detail from Bridgeman Images

Stephen Greenblatt explores the myths and meanings of Adam and Eve.

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Alumni

James Coe’s backyard and frog pond are worthy of their own plein air paintings.

Photograph by Stu Rosner

Landscape and bird artist James Coe reflects the Hudson Valley

Susan Morris Novick

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Harvard’s new alumni leader touts its global reach.

The College Pump

Memorial Hall burning in September 1956—with flames beyond the reach of firefighting apparatus

Photograph by William Simon

A fresh source for Harvard humor, a critique embedded in a memorium, and historic photos of a famous campus fire

Treasure

The volume’s front cover features a needle-painted portrait of the young prince Charles Stuart.

Photographs by Jim Harrison/Object courtesy of the Houghton Library

Embroidery fit for a prince