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January-February 2021

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Letters

The conservative, legacies, the Electoral College

As SEAS moves to Allston, President Bacow highlights the University’s newest innovation hub.

The College Pump

Photograph of Rob Gogan, retired recycling director and acute observer of nature on campus

Rob Gogan

The campus’s Mr. Green, accessing acronyms, mathematician at work, and a distracted astronomer

Treasure

An historic photograph from Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library archives shows the 1936 exhibition on women scientists—in this case, folders of their published scholarship.

Photograph of the exhibit courtesy of Schlesinger Library/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

“Women in Science” on display

In this Issue

Drawing of a distant solitary figure walking alone toward the horizon along a narrowing path of light edged on both sides by darkness

Illustration by Francescoch/iStock

As the country isolates, are we all alone?

Philanthropist Edwin Binney with Helen Willard, curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection

Click on arrow at right to view additional images
(1 of 4) Edwin Binney with Helen Willard, curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, at the exhibition opening for “The Romantic Ballet” in 1966. 

Image courtesy of the Harvard Theatre Collection

Brief life of a philanthropic art collector: 1925-1986

Formal portrait of the Board of Editors for volume 70 of the “Harvard Law Review” (1956-1957), photographed on the steps of Austin Hall. The author, only the third woman admitted to Review membership, stands in the fourth row, at upper left.

The Board of Editors for volume 70 of the Harvard Law Review (1956-1957), immortalized on the steps of Austin Hall. The author, only the third woman admitted to Review membership, stands in the fourth row, at upper left.

Photograph courtesy of Nancy Boxley Tepper/reproduction by KLK Photography

An alumna looks back.

An illustration by James Steinberg shows a heavenly hand extending down to the U.S. Capitol and attempting to influence members of Congress

Illustration by James Steinberg

How faith shapes economic and social policy

Letters

The conservative, legacies, the Electoral College

As SEAS moves to Allston, President Bacow highlights the University’s newest innovation hub.

Right Now

Image shows a dendritic cell (shown in yellow) attached to a man-made polymer lattice inside a pill-sized implantable device.

Dendritic cells (like the one shown in yellow, within a pink polymer support structure) can be activated to recognize cancer cells. After migrating to the lymph nodes and spleen, they then train immune-system T cells to attack and destroy tumors.

Image courtesy of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University

An implantable cancer vaccine shows promise in training the immune system to attack tumors.

Cracks appear in a balloon decorated like a $100 bill as Uncle Sam fills it with a bicycle pump

Illustration by Dave Cutler

Contrary to expert belief, some financial crises can be predicted—and perhaps averted.

A patient undergoes acupuncture of the belly

Photograph by Morofoto/iStock

“Fine-tuning” an ancient practice to heal, not harm

Harvard Squared

Skier in action at the top of a snow of snow-covered Berkshire East mountain

Click on arrow at right to view image gallery
Berkshire East offers majestic views of the Deerfield River Valley. (1 of 8)

Photograph courtesy of Berkshire East and Tino Specht

Skiing, snow tubing, and more in Western Massachusetts

Ornate eighteenth-century dress with wide hooped skirt

Click on arrow at right to view image gallery
(1 of 2) Among the 107 ensembles are an ornate mantua, c. 1760-65

Photograph courtesy of Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Highlighting 250 years of women in fashion

An appetizer of ground pork with onions and basil

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(1 of 2) Cha Yen Thai Cookersy serves fresh fare like the tangy pork larb with red onions and basil.

Photograph courtesy of Cha Yen Thai Cookery

Cha Yen Thai Cookery

Three people in 1950s New York

New York, by Robert Frank, negative 1955-56
Courtesy of the Addison Gallery of American Art

“Robert Frank: The Americans,” at the Addison Gallery of American Art

Photo of a steaming pot to tea

Photo Courtesy of Mem Tea

Timely tips to brighten the season

John Harvard's Journal

An aerial view (taken by a drone) of the south side of Harvard’s new science and engineering complex, in a perspective looking northwest toward the stadium

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(1 of 10) The south side of Harvard’s new science and engineering complex, in a perspective looking northwest toward the stadium

Photograph by Steve Dunwell

A new center for engineering and applied sciences—finally

Exhibit showing Harvard Management Company investment returns by asset class in fiscal year 2020

The pandemic—and prospects for the University and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

A graph shows that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has become gradually more diverse, but that the total size of the faculty has grown little for more than a decade.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ annual report on the professoriate—and the challenges of making it more diverse

A photograph of art historian Cassandra Albinson next to a photograph of a portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour applying pink rouge to her cheeks

Cassandra Albinson

Photograph by Stu Rosner; Painting: Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1750) by François Boucher/Courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Charles E. Dunlap

A curator takes a fresh look at portraits of aristocratic European women.

A drawing showing a large crossbar being hauled into place between two tall smokestacks to make a giant "H" for "Harvard"

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

A Zoom screen shot of multiple Harvard student members of the College radio station, WHRB

Though WHRB had to initiate its newest members over Zoom, each student picked a traditional five-character radio name.

Extracurriculars cope despite COVID-19.

Portrait of Rachel Gable, author of new book on first-generation students at elite colleges

Rachel Gable

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/JC

Rachel Gable’s research on helping first-generation and low-income students succeed at elite colleges

Photograph of Srikant M. Datar, new Harvard Business School dean

Srikant M. Datar

Photograph courtesy of Harvard Business School

New Business School dean, alumni Nobelists, more on fossil fuels, and other University news

Updates on the spring term, naming conventions, and racial equity

Four new House members boost the roster of alumni in Congress to 54.

Painting of three pairs of worn, heavy shoes by Vincent van Gogh

Three Pairs of Shoes by Vincent van Gogh

Image courtesy of Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Redrawing community at Harvard

Harvard volleyball player Sandra Zeng setting a ball during a game

An adept passer and gritty defender, Zeng also finished fifth in the Ivy League in service aces.

Photograph by Gil Talbot/Harvard Athletic Communications

Volleyball captain Sandra Zeng’s defensive focus

Montage

Shelby Meyerhoff's photographic self-portrait of her head and shoulders transformed with body paints into a blue-ringed octopus

Shelby Meyerhoff uses body paint and photography to transform herself into creatures and scenes from the natural world. Photograph: a blue-ringed octopus

Photograph courtesy of Shelby Meyerhoff

Shelby Meyerhoff’s liminal, liberating body painting

Archival photograph of John F. Kennedy as an undergraduate, circa 1939, studying papers

John F. Kennedy as an undergraduate, circa 1939, had well-formed views on the advent of World War II.

Photograph courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

An unusual senior thesis

Producer Jeff Schaffer sits between star Larry David (left) and another cast member on the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” set.

Jeff Schaffer (in the center) on the set of Curb Your Enthusiasm with its star, Larry David, and fellow cast members

Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer on how to be funny

Photograph of a giant cuttlefish, “Sepia apama,” at Cabbage Tree Bay, Australia: among Peter Godfrey-Smith’s subjects for his research on cognition

A giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama, at Cabbage Tree Bay, Australia: among Peter Godfrey-Smith’s subjects

Photograph by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Recent books with Harvard connections

Portrait of Harvard Law School dean—and perfectionist—Ezra Thayer circa 1910, who found the school’s dire finances overwhelming.

As dean, the perfectionist Ezra Thayer, shown circa 1910, found the school’s dire finances overwhelming.

Public Domain

The making of the modern Harvard Law School

Alumni

David Roberts seated outdoors on a stone wall by the Charles River

Roberts pauses during a visit to the Watertown Riverfront Park Braille Trail, not far from his home.

Photograph by Martha Stewart

David Roberts: A lifetime of adventures, risks, and rewards

The College Pump

Photograph of Rob Gogan, retired recycling director and acute observer of nature on campus

Rob Gogan

The campus’s Mr. Green, accessing acronyms, mathematician at work, and a distracted astronomer

Treasure

An historic photograph from Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library archives shows the 1936 exhibition on women scientists—in this case, folders of their published scholarship.

Photograph of the exhibit courtesy of Schlesinger Library/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

“Women in Science” on display