Herbert Bloch, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature Emeritus, was awarded the Premio Cultori di Roma, an international award that is given to one person each year through the National Institute of Roman Studies. This is the first time the prize was awarded to a Harvard faculty member.

Physics Professor Juan Maldacena won a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship worth $245,000 over five years. Prize winners are free to use the funds as they please; no reports or intellectual products are required. Maldacena, 30, was cited for his work on string theory. He described mathematically how one-dimensional, infinitely small entities can vibrate at different frequencies to form various subatomic particles, and how they interact in ways that account for the force of gravity. His work advanced the "Theory of Everything," which describes all particles and forces in the universe in terms of one underlying principle.

Howard Gardner, the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Graduate School of Education, received three honorary degrees during the 1999 commencement season: an honorary doctorate in music from Ithaca College, and two honorary doctorates in science from Connecticut College and McGill University. Gardner also delivered the commencement address at McGill this year.

Joel F. Habener, professor of medicine, is the 1999 recipient of the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award, given by the Endocrine Society.

The award is presented in recognition of outstanding leadership in fundamental or clinical endocrinology as exemplified by the recipient's contributions and those of his trainees and associates to teaching, research, and administration. It includes an honorarium of $5,000.

John A.T. Young, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the Medical School, has won the 1999 Eli Lilly and Company Research Award, presented by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).