Academy Admits Harvard Faculty

Thirteen Harvard faculty joined another elite institution on Saturday, when they were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and joined the ranks of Noam Chomsky, Bill Clinton, and Toni Morrison.

At the ceremony in Sanders Theater, the two-century-old organization honored 203 scientists, historians, artists, policy makers, and other leaders in public life.

Harvard’s inductees included Associate Dean of Harvard Medical School (HMS) Nancy C. Andrews, Professor of History David G. Blackbourn, Social Sciences Dean David M. Cutler ’87, Bernbaum Professor of English Literature Leo Damrosch, Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design Rem Koolhaas, Cabot Director of the University Art Museums Thomas W. Lentz, Beren Professor of Economics N. Gregory Mankiw, Professor of Geophysics J. O’Connell, Professor of Psychology James H. Sidanius, and HMS Professor of Cell Biology Junying Yuan.

The academy also honored 24 foreign citizens as honorary members. The procession was preceded by brief lectures by selected new inductees.

One inductee, Center for Brain Science Director Joshua R. Sanes, noticed some conspicuous absences among the new fellows, from filmmaker Spike Lee to Vice President Al Gore ’69.

“It’s a shame,” Sanes said.

“My daughter was going to come up from college to see [chef] Alice Waters,” he added.

Sanes, who is also Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, researches how cells and their connections in the brain become specialized. At the center, he directs a group of independent scientists as they map neurocircuits and investigate what he calls “the big intellectual question of this century.”

Membership honors individual achievement, but some inductees said that their success depended on the help of others.

“Our work is always built on that of our peers,” another inductee, Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean Venkatesh Narayanamurti said. “Without that network of help, this would not be possible.”

Narayanamurti is developing transistors “so small you need a special kind of microscope to see them.”

Lars Hernquist, professor of astronomy, analyzes light to learn about how galaxies are formed. He hopes he can use a high-powered telescope for the research.

“If you do observations in astronomy, it’s kind of like a time machine,” Hernquist said. “The more sensitive a telescope, the farther back in time we can look.”

Another inductee, Meyer Professor of Middle Eastern History Roger Owen is working on a book that will compare Middle Eastern globalization at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. Owen was humble about his work.

“Scientists are inventing things,” he said. “Historians are just writing books.”