Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University

In the News

Professor & Team: Daniel L. Smail

Harvard Crimson, March 8, 2012

Professor Smail has spent this academic year at the Radcliffe Institute, where he studies what he terms the "medieval world of goods" by sifting through 14th and 15th century household inventories. This project is unique because of its collaborative nature: Smail is working with sophomores Mark S. Krass, Naomi M. Wills, and Matthew Wozny to collect and interpret his data.

From Embryos to Evolution: Evo-Devo

@ the Radcliffe Institute, March 5, 2012
[Nicole Le Douarin, photo by Tony Rinaldo]

Scientists trying to understand the evolutionary past have gained insight from studying embryonic development—a new area of science called evo-devo. Nicole Le Douarin, a pioneer of modern developmental biology, spoke at Radcliffe on how studying embryonic development sheds light on a key innovation in vertebrate evolution: the emergence of a head and brain. 

Orderly Living

Harvard Magazine, March 1, 2012
[Image courtesy of Houghton Library]

In March 2010, a group of colleaguesgot together at the Radcliffe Institute for a colloquium on German manuscript illumination. The speakers visited Houghton Library, where librarians had spread out for examination virtually all of the German illuminated manuscripts the library has. These treasures knocked the socks off the assembled academics, who decided that each would choose one of the fragments before them as the subject of a short essay. 

New Venues for Jewish Music Festival

Boston Globe, February 28, 2012

The Third Annual Boston Jewish Music Festival features pianist and former fellow Donald Berman who has put together a classical evening called "From the Lower East Side to Carnegie Hall.'' 

Jeremy Lin: The Tug of War Between Taiwan and China

International Business Times, February 22, 2012

International Business Times spoke with two experts on China and Taiwan to discuss the Jeremy Lin phenomenon and how it relates to East Asian political issues. 

From V-2 Rocket to Moon Landing

Harvard Gazette, February 22, 2012
[Photo by Kris Snibbe]

Author Diane McWhorter's latest book project, "Moon of Alabama: From Nazi Germany to Tranquility Base, via the Segregated American South," explores how German scientists from Hitler's Third Reich helped to create the rocket that shot the Apollo 11 mission into space.

Job Retraining For the Unemployed: A Popular Fix that Might Not Work

Washington Post, February 18, 2012

Fellow Amy Goldstein's Washington Post column on job retraining for the unemployed. 

The Last Supper as Passover

Harvard Gazette, February 16, 2012
[Photo by Stephanie Mitchell]

Anthony Grafton made a compelling case that the Christian discovery of a Jewish Jesus began in the Renaissance. A leading cultural and intellectual historian of Renaissance Europe, Grafton suggested that it was 16th-century scholar Joseph Scaliger, in particular, who helped transform the discourse around the sacred Christian meal.

Chicago as Urban Microcosm

Harvard Gazette, February 14, 2012
[Photo by Rose Lincoln]

Professor Robert Sampson studies Second City to paint detailed portrait of American cities. 

Painting on a New Canvas

The New York Times, February 8, 2012

The New York Times features "Raising Renee" and discusses the upcoming premier on HBO with painter and Radcliffe fellow Beverly McIver. The documentary, created by Radcliffe fellow Jeanne Jordan, is based on the story of the painter and her sister.  

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