Harvard Students Place First in Math Contest

For the fourth year in a row, Harvard's top math students won first place in a prestigious national competition, making the University the first school ever to achieve such a record.

Three Harvard students also placed in the top five individually as part of the 49th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, a standardized six-hour, six-question exam.

David J. Moews '89, Bjorn M. Poonen '89 and Jeremy A. Kahn '91 placed in the top five, beating more than 2000 other students from 360 colleges in the United States and Canada. Poonen and Moews, along with Constantin S. Teleman '90, pulled Harvard ahead of Princeton and Rice to win the team competition.

Team ranks were determined by the combined scores of three official team members. Harvard's team was chosen by professors in the Math Department on the basis of students' performances on last year's exam.

"We have the future leaders of American mathematics as our Harvard undergraduates," said Math Department Chair Arthur M. Jaffe. "The word has got out that Harvard is the place to study undergraduate mathematics."

In addition to the team win, Harvard also dominated the individual standings. Ten of the top 50 individual places went to Harvard students. Six others earned Honorable Mention.

"We just have some really smart guys here," said Cliff H. Taubes, math professor and faculty coordinator of the Harvard team. "I don't imagine that we could flatter ourselves and say we taught them what they know. It's all to their credit."

Moews, who last year became the first person to earn a perfect score on the exam, said, "The questions are all elementary questions. They don't require any math knowledge beyond the first year of calculus."

"But it doesn't mean it's easy," added Moews, who has in the past scored a perfect 120 on the test. According to Taubes, the average score on previous exams has been only one out of the possible 120 points.

The competition was begun in 1938 "to encourage the idea of competition in academic subjects in colleges," according to Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy Andrew M. Gleason, a former team coordinator. The contest is named for William Lowell Putnam (1882), whose trust fund sponsors the event.

The Math Department will receive $5000 for the win, and each team member will receive $250. Individuals who placed in the top five will get $500.

Harvard's department will also award one of the top five finishers a fellowship to pay for a full year's tuition at Harvard, most often for graduate school.