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An odd, previously unknown sphere, some 360 miles in diameter, has been found at the bottom of the Earth. It was detected by a Harvard professor and a graduate student who patiently examined records of hundreds of thousands of earthquake waves that passed through the center of the planet in the past 30 years.

Walter H. Annenberg, businessman, statesman, philanthropist, and Harvard benefactor whose donations helped finance undergraduate scholarships and the renovation of Annenberg Hall, died Tuesday (Oct. 1) at his home near Philadelphia from complications due to pneumonia. He was 94.

As the 2002-03 academic year begins, returning students and faculty are finding that a new, Web-based version of the HOLLIS catalog is now in use. Users can connect to the new HOLLIS through the Harvard Libraries site at http://lib.harvard.edu.

When the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the phrase under God in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional last June because it violated the separation of church and state, the ruling touched off angry protests across the nation, including a spontaneous pledge-in by members of Congress on the steps of the Capitol building.

With her characteristic candor and wit, the popular former first lady Barbara Bush provided glimpses of her famous family and offered up a few of Lifes Lessons to an admiring crowd at the ARCO Forum Thursday (Sept. 19) night.

An old joke asks the question, “What do you call a 200-pound black man with a gun?” The answer, of course, is “Sir,” the subtext being that it is only…

More than 3,000 members, family, and friends of the Harvard community gathered in a festive mood in Tercentenary Theatre on Sunday evening (Sept. 22) for President Lawrence H. Summers Its Movie Time at Harvard, a free screening of the high school-rebel classic comedy Ferris Buellers Day Off.

Harvards Program on U.S.-Japan Relations was founded in 1980 on the belief that the United States and Japan have become so interdependent that the problems they face urgently require their cooperation. The program enables outstanding scholars and practitioners to come together to conduct independent research and participate in an ongoing dialogue with other members of…

The University Center for Ethics and the Professions has selected five Harvard graduate students to be named Edmond J. Safra Graduate Fellows in Ethics. Under the direction of Arthur Applbaum, professor of ethics and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), the new fellows will devote their time to an approved course of…

The Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at the Divinity School will host 27 fellows during the 2002-03 academic year. Established in 1958, CSWR fosters excellence in the study of world religions on the broadest scale and from many perspectives. International in composition and subject matter, CSWR facilitates the exchange of ideas growing…

Writers as far back as Sophocles have referred to the nation as a ship of state. In his talk at the Kennedy Schools ARCO Forum Friday (Sept. 20), Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic gave that metaphor a new twist. He compared his country to a bicycle.

Harvard Medical Schools Minority Faculty Development Program (MFDP), established in 1990 to increase minority faculty development, recruitment, and retention – as well as to expand the local pool of minority students seeking careers in science and medicine from grade school to graduate school – has received the prestigious Center of Excellence in Minority Health designation…

This fall the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) will return with a second year of the Sackler Saturdays program for families and children. Families with children ages 6 to 11 are again invited to explore artworks from ancient cultures and distant lands in Asia, Europe, and this year, Africa. The program takes place in the…

The Kennedy Schools Carr Center for Human Rights Policy has named its 2002-03 fellows. The six fellows bring with them the accumulated experience of working on a variety of compelling human rights issues on four continents.

Staff from across the University whove toiled on the new PeopleSoft Human Resources system learned it was up and running on Monday (Sept. 23). Amid popping champagne corks and cutting cakes in the HR Project Situation Room in Holyoke Center, HR Project director Karen Davis (center) talks to workers who worked through the weekend in…

On Oct. 3, men and women from four continents will take the stage at Sanders Theatre, where Nobel laureates will shake their hands 1,200 strangers will pelt them with paper airplanes and a worldwide Internet TV audience will watch them receive their Ig Nobel Prizes. Each of the 10 new Ig Nobel Prize winners has…

A new report on the nations environment presents a mosaic picture, containing both disturbing news such as the fact that virtually all our streams and groundwater contain contaminants and good news such as the fact that global-warming producing carbon safely stored in trees increased by 80 percent in the Eastern United States from the 1950s…

Even before Sept. 11, professional firefighters enjoyed the glow of a heroic mystique. Stock characters in picture books and childhood stories, they’ve long captured the imagination of children and remained in our adult psyches as steadfast, brave men and women who protect our lives and property.

When Patrice Higonnet was invited to teach at the College de France, a venerable Parisian institution whose free lectures are attended by everyone from street people to the haut monde, he decided to do something daring – instruct Parisians about their own city.

Harvard Law School will host a symposium exploring law and justice in a multistate world. The event will be held in honor of Story Professor of Law Emeritus Arthur Taylor von Mehrens 80th birthday. The Friday (Sept. 27) symposium will feature discussions on each of von Mehrens four areas of expertise: comparative law, choice of…

The greening of Harvard took another step forward this summer as, for the second year in a row, a group of environmentally minded interns took a hard look at Harvards buildings, vehicles, and equipment with an eye to make the campus more environment-friendly.

Ken Burns cannot tell an American story – about music, about baseball, about authors and artists, and certainly not about the Civil War – without bumping into the same issue: race.

The Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs has updated its Welcome Guide, which provides information for Harvard’s Cambridge, Boston, and Watertown neighbors.

The new edition of The Harvard Guide, the Universitys official guidebook, is now on sale at the Harvard Events & Information Center in the Holyoke Center Arcade. The guide has a fresh new look with a cover that celebrates Commencement and Widener Library.

Members of the Class of ’06 gather together for the second annual First-Year Day of Service event, co-sponsored by the Phillips Brooks House Association and Har’d Corps. The students are urged to participate in a variety of service activites at various sites in neighborhoods throughout the Greater Boston area.

The No. 1 rule for gaining admission to a prestigious college, education writer Jacques Steinberg told an eager audience at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) Tuesday night (Sept. 24), is that there are no rules.