Curated playlist

Harvard University alumni

Matt DamonMatt Damon once turned down 10 percent of the profits from Avatar, a film that went on to become the most successful of all time. Director James Cameron made the offer while Damon was still working on the Bourne films, and Damon did not…
Richard PoirierLiterary critic Richard Poirier signed a 1968 pledge to refuse federal taxes. It was a protest against the Vietnam War.
Paul WerbosPaul Werbos, a social scientist, first formally described backpropagation in his 1974 dissertation.
Jan NattierJan Nattier argued that the Heart Sutra was likely compiled in China. The short text had long been seen as Indian.
Peter Hedström (sociologist)Sociologist Peter Hedström argues social patterns need explaining by the mechanisms underneath them.
Emi NakamuraEmi Nakamura found that many recorded price changes were just temporary sales.
Retha WarnickeHistorian Retha Warnicke argues Anne Boleyn was born in 1507, not 1501. Most historians long assumed the earlier date.
John LindowJohn Lindow became a Berkeley authority on Old Norse myth, Sami and Finnish mythology, and Inuit religion.
Daniel HeartzDaniel Heartz devoted a 1969 book to Pierre Attaingnant, a French Royal Printer of Music.
Natalie PortmanNatalie Portman turned down a $2,000,000 prize in 2018. She skipped the Genesis Prize ceremony, and it was canceled.
Mark ZuckerbergIn January 2024, Mark Zuckerberg turned to families of harmed children at a Senate hearing and apologized.
Roger SessionsComposer Roger Sessions won a Pulitzer Prize for a whole career, then another for one concerto.
Stuart DreyfusIn 1962, Stuart Dreyfus found a simpler way to derive backpropagation. He used only the chain rule from calculus.
Yu-Chi HoA paperwork error sent Yu-Chi Ho to electrical engineering instead of mechanical. He decided to stay.
Stith ThompsonA University of Wisconsin undergraduate once wrote a thesis called "The Return from the Dead in Popular Tales and Ballads." The student was Stith Thompson, an American folklorist. Admirers later described him as "America's most important…
Bill GatesBill Gates and Paul Allen wrote software for a computer they did not have. Their Altair demo worked the first time.
Jaan PuhvelAt twelve, Jaan Puhvel fled Estonia with his family in April 1944.
David LandesBefore he taught at Harvard, David Landes decoded Japanese messages.
Arthur MendelColleagues recognized Arthur Mendel as the foremost American Bach scholar of his day.
Wilbur Kitchener JordanWilbur Kitchener Jordan, who published as W. K. Jordan, lived from 1902 to 1980 and became one of the leading American historians of Britain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His career turned on a question that still feels…
Paul SamuelsonPaul Samuelson said he was born as an economist at age sixteen. It happened in a 1932 Chicago lecture on Malthus.
James TobinJames Tobin proposed a tax on currency trading to throw sand in the wheels of speculation.
Tom MorelloTom Morello, the American guitarist behind Rage Against the Machine, once made an entire festival crowd listen to nothing but noise. At Lollapalooza in 1993, his band walked onstage naked. Their mouths were covered with duct tape, and…
Larry SummersLarry Summers, born Lawrence Henry Summers, was 28 years old in 1983 when Harvard gave him tenure, making him one of the youngest tenured professors in the university's history. Soon afterward, doctors diagnosed him with late-stage…
Paul NitzePaul Nitze went to Japan to assess the damage after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It shaped his nuclear thinking for life.
Harrison SchmittHarrison Schmitt was the only professional geologist to walk on the Moon. He flew on Apollo 17 in 1972.
Gilbert N. LewisChemist Gilbert N. Lewis was nominated for the Nobel Prize 41 times and never won. He discovered the covalent bond.
Leon BotsteinLeon Botstein became a college president at just twenty-three. He later led Bard College for more than fifty years.
Richard GombrichRichard Gombrich, a British Indologist born on the 17th of July 1937, did something unusual as a student for a future scholar of ancient India. While still an undergraduate, he helped edit a volume of papers by the philosopher Karl Popper,…
Roger NollEconomist Roger Noll has testified against the NCAA in several court cases. One was O'Bannon v. NCAA.
Mira NairMira Nair finished cutting Salaam Bombay! only three days before the film had its world premiere. The date was the 19th of May 1988, and the setting was the closing gala of the Cannes Film Festival. When the screening ended, the audience…
Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)At eleven, Walter Kaufmann converted from Lutheranism to Judaism. He later learned all four grandparents were Jewish.
Hilary PutnamHilary Putnam invented a leading theory of the mind, then spent years taking it apart.
Hubert DreyfusIn 1964, the RAND Corporation hired philosopher Hubert Dreyfus to review artificial intelligence.
Gerald HoltonGerald Holton was labeled an "Enemy Alien" in America, yet Harvard hired him. He taught naval officers to use radar.
Gabe NewellGabe Newell, the president and majority owner of Valve Corporation, has lived mostly at sea since the COVID-19 pandemic. He is an American video game developer and businessman, and he co-founded the company he now controls. His path to…
Gregory NagyA Harvard classics course drew 27,000 registered students online.
Julian SimonJulian Simon bet Paul Ehrlich that five metals would get cheaper. All five did.
Gilbert PlassGilbert Plass was a Canadian physicist who warned a magazine audience about a warming planet in 1953. He told Time that "for centuries to come, if man's industrial growth continues, the earth's climate will continue to grow warmer." Plass…
Walter LippmannJournalist Walter Lippmann gave us the word stereotype. He also named the Cold War in a 1947 book.
Vincent CroninVincent Cronin's history books sold well, but scholars did not always welcome them.
Brown MeggsBrown Meggs heard a Beatles demo in 1963 and signed the group at once.
George SteinerGeorge Steiner was born Francis George Steiner on the 23rd of April 1929. He was a literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator, and he is described as both French and American. Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature…
Lee SmolinLee Smolin dropped out of high school and took up Einstein's unfinished work. He called it his mission.