T.W. Richards 1868-1928
Chemistry 1914
Research on fixing the atomic weights of chemical elements

Educated at home by his mother, a poet unimpressed by the local public schools, Richards started attending lectures at the University of Pennsylvania when he was 13. At 17 he graduated from college at the head of his class. He became interested in atomic weights (weights of the elements) as a graduate student at Harvard, and eventually discovered and corrected crucial and misleading errors in earlier calculations.

The scion of a Boston Brahmin family, the at-first unambitious Minot eventually became a pioneer in the field of hematology, the study of blood. While researching the deadly blood disease known as pernicious anemia, Minot himself was stricken by diabetes. It was the discovery of insulin in 1921 that allowed him to continue his research, which ultimately led to his own discovery of the cure for pernicious anemia.

William P. Murphy 1892-1982
Medicine or Physiology 1934
Research on liver treatment of the anemias (with George Minot)

The cure for pernicious anemia, George Minot suspected, was - simply - a diet of liver. He enlisted Murphy, then a resident at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, to conduct a survey of anemia patients. Murphy was hard-pressed at first to persuade his subjects to eat the potential remedy. The seemingly miraculous recovery of those who did, however, convinced the more squeamish. Soon, a palatable extract was developed, based on the team's work.

Percy W. Bridgman 1882-1961
Physics 1946
Investigations in changes that occur when various materials are subjected to extremely high pressure

The quintessential Harvard man, Bridgman, born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1882, received three degrees from the University and remained to teach with brilliance, intensity, and dedication. His discoveries made possible the artificial production of diamonds and other mineral forms, and his The Physics of High Pressure (1931) remains the outstanding work in the field.

Henry J. Cadbury 1883-1974
Peace 1947
Chairman, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) of Philadelphia

Cadbury, AM '04, Ph.D. '14, was the Hollis Professor of Divinity and director of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library. A humanitarian, pacifist, biblical scholar, and prolific writer, Cadbury proposed the formation of the American Friends Service Committee – a Quaker relief organization – in order to spearhead relief activities in Europe after World War I. Under Cadbury's leadership, the AFSC became involved with black schools in the South, in settlement houses, and in depressed areas of Appalachia. In 1931, at the request of President Herbert Hoover, the Service Committee fed children of coal miners. A pacifist organization, the AFSC was organized to offer Quakers and young conscientious objectors "a service of love in wartime."

Ralph J. Bunche 1904-1971
Peace 1950
Negotiated an armistice in the Middle East

Bunche, the first African-American to be appointed to Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, dedicated his life to issues of race and colonialism, and was a prominent figure in the early civil rights movement. His studies on race relations in the United States and colonialism in Africa brought him to the United Nations, where he was appointed to negotiate a cease-fire in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Upon hearing that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Middle East, he respectfully declined the honor, claiming that he did not work in the UN Secretariat to win prizes; he was only doing his job. The Nobel committee gave it to him anyway, however, stating it was "for the good of the United Nations."

Edward M. Purcell 1912-1997
Physics 1952
Discovered the nuclear resonance method that measures magnetic fields in atomic nuclei

Purcell's work resulted in applications ranging from the making of more accurate medical diagnoses to the mapping of our galaxy by radioastronomers. During World War II, he helped develop advanced microwave radar. Purcell was as devoted to teaching as he was to research, debunking the myth that research scientists make poor teachers. He once called the overhead projector "the greatest invention since chalk."

Fritz A. Lipmann 1899-1986
Medicine or Physiology 1953
Identified "coenzyme A" and discovered basic principles in the understanding of proteins

A slow starter and a self-admitted failure at academic politics, Lipmann wandered early in his career from laboratory to laboratory as a researcher. His wife remembers that he "had no position, no prospects, and it did not seem to trouble him." This lack of obsessive focus is, perhaps, related to his famed ability to see the wider picture, a trait which eventually led to pivotal discoveries about how living organisms function.

John F. Enders 1897-1985
Medicine or Physiology 1954
Application of tissue-culture methods in developing a polio virus, the ingredient of the polio vaccine (with F.C. Robbins and T.H. Weller)

Without Enders' subtle triumph of learning how to grow a virus, the more celebrated Jonas Salk would have been unable to bring his own work to its powerful conclusion. In addition to his many achievements in human biology, "The Chief," as Enders was called, was esteemed for his impeccable standards of personal and scientific honesty.

Frederick C. Robbins 1916-2003
Medicine or Physiology 1954
Application of tissue-culture methods to the study of viral diseases (with J.F. Enders and T.H. Weller)

At Harvard Medical School in the late 1930s, Robbins studied with John Enders and roomed with Thomas Weller. After earning his M.D., he served in North Africa and Italy during the war, investigating bacterial diseases. He was awarded a Bronze Star. By 1950, he was back with his old college colleagues, Enders and Weller, doing the experiments which led to their Nobel Prize -- and a vaccine for polio.

Thomas H. Weller 1915-
Medicine or Physiology 1954
Application of tissue-culture methods to the study of viral diseases (with J.F. Enders and F.C. Robbins)

In addition to his work on the polio virus, Weller made significant contributions to the study of human parasites and the viruses that cause rubella (German measles) and chicken pox. Later in his career, Weller distinguished himself as an administrator, serving as director of the Center for Prevention of Infectious Diseases at Harvard's School of Public Health, where he significantly advanced the School's international reputation. Weller is the Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Tropical Public Health Emeritus.

Georg von Bekesy 1899-1972
Medicine or Physiology 1961
Demonstrated the physical principles involved in the mechanism of hearing

This engineer, who in his youth was intrigued by the high-pitched Gypsy music of his native Hungary, has been lauded for "fathoming the enigmas and disclosing the elegance of the auditory system." His delicate engineering feats included the design of special scissors, whose blades were a few thousandths of an inch long, to manipulate the cochlea, a minute structure in the inner ear.

In 1953, at the tender age of 25, the enfant terrible Watson, with British scientist Francis Crick, presented a model for DNA, beating Linus Pauling in a neck-and-neck race to one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century. His controversial book, The Double Helix, "has been called," says The New York Times, "the most honest book ever written about scientific research." Watson is currently president of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y.

Konrad E. Bloch 1912-2000
Medicine or Physiology 1964
Studied the pattern of reactions involved in the biosynthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids

Bloch's painstaking research helped cap the half-century dubbed the "Golden Age of Biochemistry." Determined to communicate with the intelligent layperson outside of the scientific community, the emeritus professor in (1994) published a book of lively pieces titled Blondes in Venetian Paintings, The Nine-Banded Armadillo, and other Essays in Biochemistry, which demonstrates (among other things) that many Renaissance portraits featured "bottle blondes."

Julian S. Schwinger 1918-1994
Physics 1965
Contributed to the study of quantum electrodynamics

The son of a dress designer and manufacturer, Schwinger found his calling by reading scientific pulp magazines. In the ensuing years he, along with other physicists, restructured the equations of quantum mechanics to make them fully consistent with Einstein's special relativity theory. Robert Oppenheimer noted that Schwinger's "greatest work has been to give us a new understanding of that old and deep problem of the interaction of light and matter."

Robert Burns Woodward 1917-1979
Chemistry 1965
Laboratory synthesis of complex molecules

Building a large, complicated molecule like chlorophyll is analogous to the construction of a great work of architecture. The Frank Lloyd Wright of organic chemistry, Woodward dominated the field for nearly half a century. His intense devotion to his work is vividly illustrated by the fact that he named a synthetic steroid Christmasterol because it was first crystallized in his laboratory on Christmas day.

George Wald 1906-1997
Medicine or Physiology 1967
Research on the biochemistry of vision

Wald contributed greatly to our knowledge of the human eye, particularly the visual pigments and how light affects them. He was on the forefront of the revolution that changed biology from a cellular to a molecular science. An early and outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, Wald was always a lively, engaged, and formidable figure in the political arena.

Simon S. Kuznets 1901-1985
Economics 1971
Developed the concept of using GNP as a measure of change in the nation's economic growth

Kuznets was a major figure in the development of quantitative economic research. During World War II, his ideas were pivotal in the country's successful transition to war production. An understated, modest man devoted to work, family, and friends, Kuznets, even in his last weeks, always greeted visitors with two questions: First, "What are you working on?" Then, "Tell me about your family."

Kenneth J. Arrow 1921-
Economics 1972
Contributed to the general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory

Arrow's work, incorporating advanced mathematical methods into economics and political science, has helped shape state economic policies around the world. A humanist as well as a "technical superscientist," Arrow has always tried to apply his complex, abstract theory to concrete social realities, such as education, racial discrimination, medical care, and the environment. He is professor emeritus at Stanford University.

Wassily W. Leontief 1906-1999
Economics 1973
Developed the input-output analysis used in forecasting and planning the economy

Leontief's pioneering formulas allowed economists to determine with unprecedented precision how changes in one sector of the economy impact on the performance of others. The third Harvard professor to win the Nobel in Economics in three straight years, the activist-economist joked, "Do you think there should be an anti-trust investigation?"