News

Pro-Palestine Encampment Represents First Major Test for Harvard President Alan Garber

News

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Condemns Antisemitism at U.S. Colleges Amid Encampment at Harvard

News

‘A Joke’: Nikole Hannah-Jones Says Harvard Should Spend More on Legacy of Slavery Initiative

News

Massachusetts ACLU Demands Harvard Reinstate PSC in Letter

News

LIVE UPDATES: Pro-Palestine Protesters Begin Encampment in Harvard Yard

CONANT NEXT PRESIDENT

Newly Elected Head Has Been Active Since Graduation in Academic Affairs

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

James Bryant Conant '14 was announced this morning as the next President of Harvard University, following his election by the Corporation. This announcement came at the beginning of a two-day session of the Board of Overseers, who must approve the Corporation's choice.

Professor Conant was born in Dorchester in 1893. He received his A. B. from Harvard in 1913, and his Ph.D three years later, becoming immediately as instructor in the department of Chemistry. He became a full professor in 1927, and since 1929 has been the incumbent of the Sheldon Emory Professorship of Chemistry. In 1931 he was head of the department.

During the war, Conant was engaged in research work in connection with the development of new war gases. He was first employed by the Bureau of Mines and then commissioned a Lieutenant in the Sanitary Corps. In August 1918, he became a Major in the Chemical Warfare Service, being stationed first at the American University Experiment Station at Washington, D.C., and later at Cleveland, Ohio.

He is a member of the board of research directors of the Rockefeller Institute and a member of many scientific organizations, as well as the author of several technical books on chemistry. In 1921 he married Grace Thayer Richards, of Cambridge; he has two sons.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags