after the facts

Baird Professor of Science Dudley R. Herschbach proved that nice guys don't always finish last. This week, the Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Herschbach--the former master of Currier House and one of the University's most popular science professors--was the recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He will share the $290,000 award with two other chemistry colleagues.

As a tribute to this year's laureate, here's a cursory glance at how 'the good guys' have done in previous years with different national competitions:

. All-time number of Nobel Prizes awarded to Harvard professors: 30.

. Total number of Nobel Prizes awarded to University of Chicago professors: 41.

. Total number awarded to Stanford University professors: 10.

. Years in which Harvard profs snagged two Nobels: 1934 (both in Medicine); 1965 (Physics and Chemistry); 1979 (both in Physics); 1980 (Medicine and Chemistry).

. Years in which Harvard faculty members garnered three Nobels: 1954 (all in Medicine); and 1981 (two in Medicine and one in Physics).

. Nobel laureate for whom Harvard claims credit even though he didn't teach here when the award was made: Frederick C. Robbins, in 1954, who was cited for research conducted while he was a Harvard faculty member.

. All-time number of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to Harvard professors: 27.

. Total number of Pulitzers awarded to Stanford professors: 5.

. American university which has sent the most Rhodes Scholarship winners to Oxford: Harvard, with 227.

. All-time number of Rhodes scholars from other schools, in descending order: Yale (166); Princeton (158); Stanford (52); University of Chicago (34); and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (22). Sources: Harvard University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, National Rhodes Scholarship Committee.