A Glance at the Four Winners

Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences Mathew S. Meselson has won international renown for his groundbreaking work in molecular biology and his expertise in biological warfare issues. Most famous is Maselson's pioneering work which has advanced the manipulation of DNA for genetic engineering.

Meselson has studied and writted extensively on chemical and biological weapons, the use of biological toxins in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia, and has led efforts to establish international agreements limiting biological warfare.

In May 1983, he dropped the widely publicized "boe" bombshell. Meselson and his colleagues argued that the spots on leaves and rocks cited by the United States' government as evidence of "yellow rain" and chemical warfare by the Soviet Union may be nothing more than bee excrement.

Currently, he is continuing his work on transposons"--examining how suppressor genes control the actions of other genes.

The 53-year-old Meselson received his Ph B. from the University of Chicago, and his Ph. D. from the California Institute of Technology. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1960.

Coles Professor of Government Judith N. Shklar, who specialized in political philosophy of the 18th century, has authored several widely publicized works, including "After Utopia," "Legalism," and "Freedom ad Independence."

Shklar is currently lecturing on American political thought at Kings College in Cambridge. England Later this year, she will give a series of lectures at Oxford University on Montesquieu.

Shklar's latest work. "Ordinary Vices" is scheduled for publication later this year. The work is an unusual study of human faults, blending political theory and literary writings.

Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1928. Shklar received her A.B. and M.A. degrees from McGill University in Montreal. She also holds a Ph D. from Radcliffe and has been lecturing at Harvard since 1956.

Sara L. Lightfoot, professor of Education at the School of Education has focused her studies on the interrelationships of children, schools and families Lightfoot has also examined patterns and structures of classroom life, and the relationship between culture and learning styles.

Currently, Lightfoot is spending a year at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford. California, where she is on a fellowship.

Her most recent book. "The Good High School," discusses the problems adolescents face in high school.

David R. Nelson, professor of Physics is widely regarded as a leader in the physics of condensed matter and glass.

He has grappled with problems related to the theories of melting, hydrodynamics--dynamics of fields in motion--turbulence, magnetism, and liquid crystals. Most recently, Nelson has taken up the question of the transition from solid to liquid matter.

A native of Stuttgart, Germany, the 32-year-old Nelson earned his A.B. at Cornell University, graduating summa cum laude in physics in 1972. Continuing at Cornell, he received his M.S. two years later, and his Ph.D. in 1975. Nelson first came to Harvard that same year, as a Junior Fellow in the prestigious Society of Fellows. He became a full professor of physics in 1980.