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July-August 2019

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Letters

Letters on Justice Holmes, another shoeless feat, athletic admissions, and more

An admissions scandal further damages the reputation of selective institutions of higher education.

The College Pump

Stephen Jay Gould

Photograph by Richard Howard/The LIFE Images Collection

Country dance, saving homework from a burning car, and Stephen Jay Gould on 9/11

Treasure

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop,©President and Fellows of Harvard College

A fresh, up-close look at the Winthrop collection

In this Issue

Jack Szostak, in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, holds a model of a nucleic acid.

Jack Szostak, in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, holds a model of a nucleic acid.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Jack Szostak’s pursuit of the biggest questions on Earth

Ellen N. La Motte as a young woman

Courtesy of the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

Brief life of a bold activist: 1873-1961

Dani Rodrik

Photograph by Stu Rosner

Dani Rodrik’s views on trade, development, and democracy enter the mainstream.

Stuart Schreiber sits “where I go to talk to my mother,” by the memorial paver that he had installed for her at Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

 

 

A scientist discovers his own family’s secrets.

Letters

Letters on Justice Holmes, another shoeless feat, athletic admissions, and more

An admissions scandal further damages the reputation of selective institutions of higher education.

Right Now

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Long-term investors fall to short-term thinking.

A European roe deer caught by researchers’ cameras

Image courtesy of Nathan Ranc

Ecologists aim to understand how deer form their home ranges.

Illustration by Dan Page

The largest-ever study of twins quantifies the respective influence of genes and environment on specific diseases.

Harvard Squared

Click on arrow at right to view full image gallery
(1 of 6) W.E.C. Eustis’s library, with its bay window overlooking the locust allée

Photograph by Eric Roth/Courtesy of Historic New England

Historic New England’s Eustis Estate

Community-focused jazz concerts in the Seaport

Photograph courtesy of the Boston Jazz Festival

The Boston Jazz Fest offers local and international artists.

Click arrow at right to see full image
Pink Cactus
Kay Kenny

Photographer Kay Kenny’s work illuminates the night.

Sashimi carpaccio

Photograph courtesy of Kamakura

Kamakura offers gem-like small plates in Boston.

Courtesy of Rebecca Tolkoff, @BeccasFitnessMind

Your guide to the best summertime activities

John Harvard's Journal

Click on arrow at right to view full image gallery
(1 of 9) Bright-red clackers helped public-health degree candidates promote hand-washing.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

At the 368th Commencement, sober talk about the times—and life lessons from a cohort of powerful women

The honorands of 2019

President Bacow’s first baccalaureate

Photograph by Kris Snibbe/HPAC

Commencement remarks on character and conduct by President Lawrence S. Bacow, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Teju Cole, and more

President Bacow’s lighter, and personal, side during Commencement week

Davóne Tines
Photograph by Jim Harrison

Short takes from Commencement, from a stirring “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and powerful reunion moments to Mme. Caller and a neglected feline would-be honorand

HUDS leadership meets with Red’s Best CEO Jared Auerbach in the organization’s headquarters on Boston Fish Pier. From left to right: David Davidson (HUDS managing director), Bruce Calvert (director for residential dining operations), Martin Breslin (director for culinary operations), Jared Auerbach, Crista Martin (HUDS director for strategic initiatives and communications), and Akeisha Hayde (executive chef for residential dining)

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Dining…and learning

Alexander Rehding

Alexander Rehding
Photograph by Stu Rosner

The Peabody professor of music, in brief

Bridget Terry Long

Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

New HGSE dean Bridget Terry Long seeks to “expand, double down, and deepen our impact.”

Faculty Dean denouement, Domínguez disinvitation, fencing issues, and updates on undergraduate education and public service

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Teaching stars, new academicians, a memorable May Day, and more

Sarah Whiting

Photograph by Tommy LaVergne/Rice University

A new Design dean, disruptive divestment activism, Radcliffe fellows, and more

Illustration by Matt Chinworth 

The Undergraduate takes a chance with film.

Sofie Fella

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Rugby’s freshman scorer Sofie Fella

Frank Doyle, in full ref attire, is fluent in Newton’s laws of motion—and the laws of the game.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

On the weekends, SEAS dean Frank Doyle steps out of his office and onto the pitch.

Montage

Dance theater company ANIKAYA’s The Conference of the Birds explores movement, self-knowledge, and human interdependence. 

Photograph by Gary Alpert

Choreographer Wendy Jehlen’s “dance diplomacy”

Click on arrow at right to see uncropped image
Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
©2019 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image from the Bridgeman Art Library

A Harvard scholar presents the “untold origins of a modern masterpiece.”

As a performer, Lauderdale is often the center of attention. With Meow Meow, he embraces a supportive role.

Photograph by Autumn de Wilde

Pink Martini bandleader Thomas Lauderdale is at his best bringing people together.

The master architects: Hall for Worship of the Ancestors, Beijing, early fifteenth century with many later repairs

Photograph by Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt

Recent books with Harvard connections

Chinese refugees stream through the wrecked streets of Chongqing, heavily bombed by the Japanese from 1938 to 1943 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Photograph from Central Press/Getty Images

The parallel, perilous, histories of China and Japan

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Alumni

Truman French and Tucker Pforzheimer amid stacks of prime shiitake-growing oak logs at their Martha’s Vineyard farm
Photograph by Randi Baird Photography

 

The farmers at MV Mycological hope so.

From left: Teresita Alvarez-Bjelland, Dan H. Fenn Jr., Tamara Elliott Rogers
Photographs from left by: Jim Harrison; Kris Snibbe/HPAC; Jim Harrsion

For extraordinary service to the University

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences honorands (from left) Lael Brainard, Joseph Nye, Jane Lubchenco, Carroll Bogert, and Roger Ferguson

Photograph courtesy of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Contributions to society from graduate research

Britain-bound

Election results 

Evelyn Richmond and Arsen Charles 

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Evelyn Richmond ’41 and Arsen Charles ’42 led the 2019 alumni parade.

The College Pump

Stephen Jay Gould

Photograph by Richard Howard/The LIFE Images Collection

Country dance, saving homework from a burning car, and Stephen Jay Gould on 9/11

Treasure

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop,©President and Fellows of Harvard College

A fresh, up-close look at the Winthrop collection