The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal, first awarded in 1989 on the occasion of the school’s hundredth anniversary, honors alumni who have made contributions to society that emerged from their graduate studies. It is the highest honor GSAS bestows, and awardees include some of Harvard’s most accomplished alumni. The 2020 recipients, announced on May 27, are: Stephen Cook, Ph.D. ’66, a computational theorist and mathematician; Albert Fishlow, Ph.D. ’63, a development economist and historian; Margaret Kivelson ’50, Ph.D. ’57, RI ’66, a space and planetary physicist; and Helen Vendler, Ph.D. ’60, Porter University Professor emerita, beloved Harvard teacher and poetry critic. For more about the honorands, see harvardmag.com/centennial-20.
2020 GSAS Centennial Medalists
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ honorands
Clockwise from top left: Stephen Cook, Albert Fishlow, Helen Vendler, and Margaret Kivelson.
Photographs courtesy of Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
You might also like
Harvard Honors Its Oldest Alumni
At 97 and 101, Linda Cabot Black ’51 and William “Bill” Dubey ’46 led the way on Alumni Day.
Shakespeare and Stephen King Have a Lot in Common
Shakespeare scholar Caroline Bicks studies horror and fear in literature.
Harvard Elects New Overseers, HAA Directors
Leaders for the governing board and alumni association were chosen by an alumni vote.
Explore More From Current Issue
The Harvard-Trained Doctor Who Urged a Revolution
Before his heroic death, General Joseph Warren was dubbed “the greatest incendiary in all of America.”