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Older people frequently forget where they left their glasses or parked their car. Could such memory lapses be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease? Until now, no good way existed to discriminate normal failures of memory from the approach of the dreaded malady that robs elders of their personalities. That situation has begun to change. Using…

Scientists at Harvard University have made wires too small to see without a powerful microscope. They are almost too small to imagine – thousands of times thinner than a human hair and millionths of an inch long. The immediate reason for doing this was to see if it could be done. The long-term result may…

The Harvard men’s heavyweight crew, ranked fourth in the nation, solidified its standing with a victory over fifth-ranked Princeton and M.I.T. in the 65th rowing of the Compton Cup Saturday April, 22, on the Charles River. The Radcliffe women’s heavyweight crew was equally impressive, defeating Syracuse and Dartmouth for the O’Leary Cup while also edging…

A memorial service for Wilfred Cantwell Smith, professor of the comparative history of religion emeritus, will be held on Friday, May 5, at 2:30 p.m. in the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. Smith came to Harvard in 1964 from the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. For nearly a decade, Smith served as director…

The Harvard Gazette

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending April 22. The official log is located at Police Headquarters, 29 Garden St. April 16: An individual was arrested for simple assault at Peabody Terrace. Two men were caught spraying fire extinguishers in Claverly Hall; both were identified…

The Graduate Student Council of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will honor five faculty members with the Excellence in Mentoring Award at a reception on Thursday, May 4, at 6 p.m. in the Graduate Student Lounge in Dudley House. This year’s recipients are: Nalini Ambady, the Ruth and John Hazel Associate Professor of…

Herzlinger Named Bush Adviser Regina Herzlinger, the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, has been named an adviser to presidential candidate George W. Bush regarding health care issues. Howard Receives Allerton Medal Professor of Dendrology Emeritus and former director of the Arnold Arboretum Richard A. Howard has been named the…

While many of their peers were sipping margaritas on the beaches of Cancun or playing volleyball in Daytona, Fla., a half dozen Law School (HLS) students spent their spring break enmeshing themselves in the complexities of Indian law during a weeklong “clinical” at the Navajo Nation reservation in the Arizona high desert. Over the course…

The memorandum from Provost Harvey Fineberg reprinted below is intended to remind members of the Harvard community about matters related to the conduct of human subjects research. April 2000 To: Members of the Harvard Community From: Provost Harvey V. Fineberg Re: Human Subjects Research — A Reminder Many members of the University are involved in…

His Grace Srila Turiya Das Acarya Mahasaya, a Hindu priest of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, presides over a Vedic fire ceremony held on the steps of Memorial Church. The event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Extension School and Dharma, a Hindu student group at Harvard. The fires of knowledge burned brightly on the steps of…

What if there were an election without a great pressing issue facing the electorate? That’s the dilemma in the 2000 presidential campaign. The United States isn’t at war, and the domestic economy is humming along. The technology sector is booming. Unemployment is low. The housing market is strong. The challenge for George W. Bush and…

After being fitted for her undergraduate cap and gown at the Harvard Coop, Kamil Redmond ’00 toys with the idea of pursuing an advanced degree while trying on the appropriate graduation cap. Staff photo by Kris Snibbe

At its 14th meeting of the year, the Faculty Council discussed a proposed Statement on Outside Activities with three members of the Committee that drafted the document: Professor Dennis Thompson (Government), chair; Professor Paul Martin (Physics) and Professor Sidney Verba (Government). Also present were Robert Donin, deputy general counsel, and Dean Gallant, Faculty of Arts…

A minor chemical spill forced the limited evacuation of the Science Center basement on Wednesday morning. According to authorities with the Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHS), a small amount of a solvent with an ether-like smell was apparently poured down a drain in a laboratory, creating a strong odor in the room. There was…

Student leaders at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) passed a resolution this week calling for the immediate repeal of the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba. The vote capped a contentious debate resonating with historical overtones and occurring at the school named for former President John F. Kennedy, whose administration imposed the embargo on Cuba…

At a time when U.S—Cuban relations are at best strained and at worst bordering on crisis, a group of Harvard scholars is working to strengthen educational and cultural ties between the two longtime adversaries. The group went on a five-day trip to the island nation last week. The trip was coordinated by the Washington Office…

The generosity of Harvard employees has always been great. This year it has proved to be greater than ever. The 1999-00 Community Gifts through Harvard Campaign has raised $871,912, an increase of $69,286 over last year’s total. More than 700 charitable organizations benefited from the Campaign, with only 6 percent of the funds donated to…

The memorial service for Sharon P. Clayborne, director of financial aid at Harvard Medical School, who died on April 13, has been changed. The service will be held on Tuesday, May 2, at 4 p.m. in the Faculty Room, HMS Building A, 25 Shattuck St., Boston.

Irvin H. Blank, a former research fellow at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and physician on the Dermatology Service at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), died in his Belmont home on April 19, at the age of 98. In a research career spanning more than 75 years, Blank made major contributions to the understanding of the physical…

The Harvard Gazette

Roscoe Pound Professor of Law James Vorenberg, the ninth dean of Harvard Law School, former Watergate associate special prosecutor, and first chair of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, died on April 12, 2000, of cardiac arrest. “The Law School has lost one of its greatest citizens,” said Law School Dean Robert C. Clark. “Jim Vorenberg…

Name tags might have been necessary the first few weeks, with all the young faces assembled on Harvard’s women’s lacrosse team. Of the 25 players on the roster this spring, only seven (five juniors and two seniors) have more than one season of varsity experience. And although a winning season is eluding them, the lacrosse…

It was one of the most horrific episodes in recent world history. Almost 400 villages in Northern Iraq were eliminated in 1987 and ’88 – with thousands of inhabitants allegedly murdered ???? and much of it is documented in top-secret military and security papers pilfered from the Iraqi government in the closing days of the…

Members of the Harvard community will have a chance to participate in the third International Conference on Internet & Society. The University is providing a forum for leading scholars, practitioners, and futurists to freely discuss and debate how the Internet will restructure and transform society in the 21st century. The Conference offers an interdisciplinary look…

Terry L. Murphy of Boston has been named managing editor of the Harvard University Gazette. A 20-year veteran of newspaper editing and reporting, Murphy was a copy editor at the Boston Herald. Prior to that she was features, photo, and graphics editor for the Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, N.Y. She also has held the…

Carnegie Mellon University has awarded its $50,000 Dickson Prize in Science to Howard Raiffa, the Frank P. Ramsey Professor in Managerial Economics, Emeritus, a pioneer in the field of decision analysis. Raiffa is an applied mathematician who works on complex decision problems. Through his research, teaching, and writing, he pursues ways that analysis can help…

Under threatening skies and windy conditions, over 300 Harvard tennis fans and alumni joined in the celebration to dedicate the new Beren Tennis Center. The ceremony, held on center court, featured comments by Harvard Dean of Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, Harvard Director of Athletics William J. Cleary, Men’s Tennis Head Coach David Fish ’75 and…

Alex S. Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and host of PBS’ Media Matters, has been named the new director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. announced Wednesday. “Alex Jones brings a breadth of knowledge and prestige…

Nationally eminent constitutional scholar and Dean of the Stanford Law School Kathleen Sullivan will deliver an address on “The Constitution in the Twenty-first Century” in Longfellow Hall on Appian Way on April 28 at 4 p.m. Sullivan’s is the premiere lecture of the new Radcliffe Institute Inaugural Lecture Series, which will continue throughout the next…