Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Medalists

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

Each June, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal, first awarded in 1989 on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the school’s founding, honors alumni who have made contributions to society that emerged from their graduate study at Harvard. This year’s honorands are, from left, Nobel Prize-winner and former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean A. Michael Spence, Ph.D. ’72, a leader in both economics and higher-education administration; MIT professor Michael Artin, Ph.D. ’60, an architect of the modern approach to algebraic geometry; Elaine H. Pagels, Ph.D. ’70, an expert on the origins of Christianity; and Nobel Prize-winner H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D. ’74, a molecular biologist who has done foundational work in the study of cell apoptosis. 

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Most popular

The Life of a Harvard Spy

Richard Skeffington Welch’s illustrious—and clandestine—career in the CIA

Brief life of Harvard CIA agent who helped install the shah of Iran

Brief life of a Harvard conspirator: 1916-2000

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

Explore More From Current Issue

Two small cast iron pans with berry-topped desserts, dusted with powdered sugar, alongside lemon slices.

Shopping for New England-made gifts this Holiday Season

Ways to support regional artists, designers, and manufacturers 

A lively concert in a modern auditorium with an audience seated on multiple levels.

Concerts and Carols at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Tuning into one of Boston's best chamber music halls 

Map showing Uralic populations in Eurasia, highlighting regional distribution and historical sites.

The Origins of Europe’s Most Mysterious Languages

A small group of Siberian hunter-gatherers changed the way millions of Europeans speak today.