News
Dear Alma,
This year is the centennial of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Given how famous our physics department became, did he ever come to Columbia to talk about it?
— Physics Phanatic
Dear Physics Phanatic,
In 1921, Einstein gave his first lecture in America about his theory of relativity to Columbia faculty and students.
“Einstein in Lecture Explains his Theory,” ran The New York Times headline describing the April 15 talk, which he gave in German since he spoke little English at the time. Even so, every seat in the Horace Mann Auditorium at Teachers College…
How do we know the difference between sarcasm and sincerity, or understand that in many social situations people don’t always say what they mean?
The subtleties of speech and hearing have eluded neuroscientists for more than a century, but now two Columbia professors have come up with a novel approach to try to understand the intricacies of verbal communication.
Nima Mesgarani, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Sameer Sheth, assistant professor of neurological surgery, are tackling the age-old problem by observing the brain’s electrical patterns when an individual listens…
Recently, one of the finest British paintings in the University’s art collection was the subject of a year-long conservation project. Portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby was painted in 1626 by Cornelius Johnson, a prolific English-born painter of Dutch heritage who painted numerous portraits of English gentry in the early to mid-17th century. His Kenelm Digby painting was a 1974 bequest to the College of Physicians and Surgeons from the estate of Dr. Jerome P. Webster, professor emeritus of clinical surgery at Columbia University Medical Center.
Over time, the structure of the painting’s wood panels…
A 20-month-old girl suffering from a rare neurodegenerative disease was diagnosed and successfully treated in a case that exemplifies the potential of precision medicine.
Argentinians went to the polls on October 25 to elect a new president, but neither candidate received enough votes to win outright. A runoff election will take place November 22. Maria Victoria Murillo, a professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs, is an expert on Latin American politics, economic policy and labor. Here, she discusses what's at issue and at stake.
Q. How can we interpret the results of the Argentina election?
A. Under Argentina’s 1994 constitution, presidential candidates must…
Bringing Bach to unexpected places is nothing new for Matt Haimovitz. In Manhattan alone, his performances have taken him from the High Line to Carnegie Hall to CBGB. Now, through a special partnership with Miller Theatre, he will animate the Columbia campus with spontaneous performances combining the music of Bach with new overtures by living composers.
These new works will be presented alongside the complete cello suites of Bach over the course of a two-night concert series at Miller Theatre. Discover how composers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions connect with these timeless works…
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) manipulated his copperplates in unprecedented ways to achieve printed images that were often in flux. That many of the different results were circulated as finished works in their own right marked a new moment in the appreciation of printmaking and the collecting of prints in the seventeenth century.
Rembrandt was the first artist to treat the print medium as a means of crafting visibly changing images. He was also the first printmaker to fully explore the use of newly available Asian papers for their aesthetic and technical effects. Many of these variations…
Soon after announcing that he would step down as dean of Columbia Journalism School, Nicholas Lemann had a conversation with University President Lee C. Bollinger, who had appointed him to the job a decade earlier. \"We're going to start a news organization to cover globalization,\" Bollinger said. And then he hired Lemann—again—to run it.
Lemann, the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism, was planning to write books and return to teaching but jumped at the chance to add this new venture, Columbia Global Reports, to his responsibilities. “Lee is extremely…
Orhan Pamuk, the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor of the Humanities and professor of writing in the School of the Arts, is one of Turkey's most prominent novelists. Titles (in English) include The White Castle, The Black Book, My Name is Red, Snow, Istanbul: Memories of a City and The Museum of Innocence.
Five decades ago, a pair of Columbia undergraduates recognized striking inequality in access to higher education, so Roger Lehecka (CC’67, GSAS’74) and Steven J. Weinberg (CC’66) sought to overcome this divide by exposing local high school students to the rigor of Columbia and engaging undergraduates with the surrounding community.
“You need to believe early in your high school years that there’s a point in being a good student and that this kind of effort will pay off,” said Lehecka, a scholarship student who went on to become Columbia College’s dean of students from 1979 to 1998…
Who She Is
Assistant director of development, Double Discovery Center and a program alumna.
Years at Columbia
2½ years
What She Does
Herndon researches grant opportunities and encourages supporters to donate to the Columbia program, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, that helps lowincome high school students graduate and enter college. Her job also entails assisting with volunteer recruitment, planning events, as well as photographing and writing for its website, social media and for the Double Discovery archives.
Road to Columbia
Herndon grew up in East Harlem. An…
Deep in the basement of Butler Library, a group of dedicated Columbia faculty are engaged in the task of preserving the oldest books, along with many other artifacts of our cultural heritage.
The Langseth, operated by Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for the National Science Foundation, supports worldwide oceanographic research. The vessel allows researchers from many universities to collect data about the Earth and oceans, generate 2D and 3D maps of what’s below the seafloor, collect sediment cores and more.