Search
COVID-19 May Be Much More Contagious Than We Thought
One of the basic indicators for determining the possible course of the coronavirus pandemic is how many other people an infected individual will infect. In epidemiological science, this factor is called the basic reproduction number, or R nought (R 0 ). …
Harvard Sustainability Report Updated
The University has released an updated sustainability report , detailing its progress from fiscal year 2006 through fiscal year 2014 in five core areas—energy and emissions, campus operations, nature and ecosystems, health and well-being, and culture and …
Pre-Pixel Portraits
Long before selfies, Harvard graduates had a powerful instinct to preserve their class identities in portraiture: 85 of the 88 members of the College class of 1852 traveled to Boston to sit for daguerreotypes, unique images captured on silvered copper …
Issue: May-June 2015
Cryptic Puzzle: “Dropouts”
Download the puzzle Download the hints Download the solution You can find all puzzles published in Harvard Magazine between 1986 and 1998 at John de Cuevas’s website, www.puzzlecrypt.com, under Harvard Puzzles . You will also find additional puzzles …
The Shape of Sound
During her junior year of college, Jessica Shand ’22 discovered topology—a branch of mathematics that studies how far shapes can stretch and morph before they lose their core properties. “I just thought it was so strange,” she says, “seeing these …
Issue: May-June 2025
The Dangers of Mirror Life
Synthetic biologists can alter the genes of microbes, plants, and animals to give them new abilities, with wide-ranging applications in medicine, agriculture, and manufacturing. But one advance in the field has raised special concern: that researchers …
Issue: May-June 2025
Brevia
Press Person George Andreou ’87, who joined Alfred A. Knopf in 1990—rising to vice president and senior editor—has been appointed director of Harvard University Press, beginning in September. He succeeds William P. Sisler, who led the press from 1990 …
Issue: September-October 2017
Honoris Causa
Five men and three women received honorary degrees at Commencement. University provost Alan M. Garber introduced the honorands in the following order, and President Drew Faust read the citations, concluding with the recipient’s name and degree. For fuller …
Issue: July-August 2014
Transforming Portraiture and the World
Intimidating, stoic, yet somehow accessible, Nobel laureate and novelist Toni Morrison, Litt.D. ’89, emerges from the white background of a painting by contemporary portraitist Robert McCurdy. According to a new exhibition catalogue published by the …
Off the Shelf
The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, by Ellen J. Langer, professor of psychology (Ballantine, $28). The author (profiled in “The Mindfulness Chronicles,” September-October 2010), widely known for work on positive psychology, begins with …
Issue: September-October 2023
The 2018 Harvard Medalists
Three alumni —and surprise honorand Drew Gilpin Faust—received the Harvard Medal for extraordinary service to the University during the Harvard Alumni Association’s annual meeting on the afternoon of Commencement day. Robert Coles ’50 is a child …
Issue: July-August 2018
Gabby Thomas ’19 Wins Olympic Trials, Heads to Tokyo
Former Harvard student-athlete Gabby Thomas ’19 made history on Saturday, becoming the second-fastest woman ever in the women’s 200 meters and clinching a spot at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Her time of 21.61 seconds was the best since 1988, when Florence …
The Crimson Triumphant
The past quarter-century was an era of prosperity for Harvard athletics. Varsity teams won 184 Ivy League championships in 17 different sports, while 11 teams captured national titles in crew, fencing, hockey, lacrosse, sailing, and squash. More than 30 …
Issue: September-October 2011
Emma Dench Named Harvard GSAS Dean
McLean professor of ancient and modern history and of the classics Emma Dench , who has served as interim dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) during the current academic year, will assume that post on a regular basis, effective July 1. …
Class-Scheduling Conundrums
With regulatory approval in hand for the Allston facility that will house much of its engineering and applied sciences teaching and research , the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) now faces a diplomatically delicate challenge to all its professors: …