Featured series 
Tag: Mathematics
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Nation & World
Two Harvard College seniors named Churchill Scholars
The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States has awarded two Harvard College seniors Zhou Fan and Yi Sun Churchill Scholarships for 2010-11.
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Nation & World
Scott Duke Kominers receives 2010 AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize
Scott Duke Kominers ’09, a student in the Harvard Business Economics Ph.D. program, was awarded the 2010 Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student on Jan. 14 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco.
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Nation & World
Harvard prof receives IIT-M distinguished alumnus award
“Why do you read Shakespeare? And you don’t learn plumbing and electrical work because they are useful in daily life, do you?” responds Harvard University professor L Mahadevan when he’s asked about the relevance of mathematics in daily life.
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Nation & World
Hunting for rhythm’s DNA
Radcliffe Fellow Godfried Toussaint taps computer science in a search for the evolutionary development of world music’s basic rhythms.
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Nation & World
Huybers and Mahadevan named MacArthur Foundation Fellows
Two Harvard faculty members who study present and past ice sheets and the science behind familiar objects and everyday events have been named recipients of prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants.…
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Nation & World
Young scholar aims at physics, finance, and the physical
Lin “William” Cong remembers his early childhood as a time of playing in the street, reading comic books, and coasting through the early grades. College was a dream.
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Nation & World
2009 Humboldt Research Award given to Donald Rubin
Donald Rubin, Ph.D. ’70, John L. Loeb Professor of Statistics, has been honored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany, with the 2009 Humboldt Research Award. The award will permit Rubin to travel to Germany to collaborate with colleagues, primarily at Universität Bamberg. As one of the most prestigious awards in Germany for…
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Nation & World
Kou is shaking up the world of statistics
Harvard statistics professor Samuel Kou, now 34, grew up in Lanzhou, a city in China’s mountainous northwest near the border with Inner Mongolia. The altitude there is higher than Denver’s storied mile, and earthquakes rumble through town several times a year.
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Nation & World
George Whitelaw Mackey
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on November 18, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late George Whitelaw Mackey, Landon T. Clay Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Mackey’s publications profoundly influenced the next generation of mathematicians and mathematical physicists.
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Nation & World
Algebra, topology expert Lurie named professor of mathematics
Mathematician Jacob Lurie, whose expertise ranges across algebraic geometry, topology, and algebra, has been named professor of mathematics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2009.
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Nation & World
Gleason memorial set for Nov. 14
A memorial service is set for Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, who died Oct. 17. The service will be Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Church, Harvard Yard. A reception will follow at Loeb House, 17 Quincy St., from 3 to 5 p.m.
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Nation & World
Gleason memorial set for Nov. 14
A memorial service is set for Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, who died Oct. 17. The service will be Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Church, Harvard Yard. A reception will follow at Loeb House, 17 Quincy St., from 3 to 5 p.m.
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Nation & World
Gleason memorial set for Nov. 14
A memorial service is set for Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, who died Oct. 17. The service will be Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Church, Harvard Yard.
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Nation & World
Distinguished mathematician Andrew Gleason dies at 86
Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, perhaps best known for his contribution to solving Hilbert’s Fifth problem, died Oct. 17 of complications following surgery. He was 86.
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Nation & World
Hansjörg Wyss gives $125M to create institute
Engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, M.B.A. ’65 has given Harvard University $125 million to create the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
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Nation & World
Key statistical ideas celebrate birthdays
University of Chicago statistics professor Stephen M. Stigler, a frequent visitor to Harvard, has a favorite movie — “Magic Town,” a black-and-white flick from 1947. It stars James Stewart as a pollster who discovers a magical place: a heartland town whose citizens have a range of opinions that are a near-perfect composite of the whole…
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Nation & World
Herchel Smith Research Fellows to begin this summer
The Herchel Smith Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship provides financial support to Harvard undergraduates engaged in scientific research at established research centers and laboratories in the United States or abroad.
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Nation & World
Senior awarded prestigious Churchill Scholarship
The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States has named Harvard senior Alison Miller among its 2008-09 scholars.
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Nation & World
George Francis Carrier
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on February 12, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late George Francis Carrier, T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor of Applied Mathematics, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Carrier was one of the world’s leading applied mathematicians.
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Nation & World
Making statistics not just palatable, but delicious
Money, love, health, innocence or guilt — even finding the right wine. Who doesn’t want to know more? “Real-Life Statistics: Your Chance for Happiness (or Misery),” offered this semester by Harvard’s Department of Statistics, will explore the critical tools to make good judgments in matters large and small.
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Nation & World
Newsmakers
Taubes awarded NAS prize, School of Dental Medicine receives ADEA Award for Vision, Ph.D. candidates receive Kauffman Dissertation Fellowships, Peter Black elected to lead WFNS, HHL-Leipzig honors Porter, Stone receives Batchelor Prize
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Nation & World
Statistics captures unpredictability of real world
Harvard’s small but active statistics department celebrated its 50th anniversary last week. There were two days of lectures and panels Oct. 26-27 at the Gutman Conference Center, and a noisy, social, and musical banquet at the Harvard Club of Boston.
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Nation & World
Harvard scientists predict the future of the past tense
Verbs evolve and homogenize at a rate inversely proportional to their prevalence in the English language, according to a formula developed by Harvard University mathematicians who’ve invoked evolutionary principles to study our language over the past 1,200 years, from “Beowulf” to “Canterbury Tales” to “Harry Potter.”
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Nation & World
Ancient practice sans theory
Move over, Archimedes. A researcher at Harvard University is finding that ancient Greek craftsmen were able to engineer sophisticated machines without necessarily understanding the mathematical theory behind their construction.
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Nation & World
Mathematician Taylor wins Shaw Prize
Herchel Smith Professor of Mathematics Richard Taylor has been awarded the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences for work that unified the diverse fields of prime numbers and symmetry. Taylor shares…
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Nation & World
Honorary degrees awarded at Commencement’s Morning Exercises
Six men and three women received honorary degrees at this morning’s 356th Commencement Exercises. Biographical sketches of the honorands appear below.
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Nation & World
Children can perform approximate math without arithmetic instruction
Children are able to solve approximate addition or subtraction problems involving large numbers even before they have been taught arithmetic, according to a study conducted at Harvard University by researchers from the University of Nottingham and Harvard.
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Nation & World
Rothenberg praises value of humanities
James Rothenberg is a leading figure in the investment world as well as being Harvard University’s treasurer and a member of the Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers.