Conversations
Entrepreneurial Academia with Gary King
Professor and serial entrepreneur Gary King argues that his frequent traversal of the boundaries between academia and industry is “not a double life.” Rather, they’re just different facets of the same job — and, if anything, that back-and-forth “helps both.”
Fifteen Questions: David F. Elmer on Test Anxiety, ‘Percy Jackson,’ and His Favorite Harvard House
The Classics Chair and incoming Eliot House Dean sat down with FM to discuss ancient Greek literature, South Slavic oral traditions, and why he hasn’t read the bestselling Rick Riordan series.
Caroline Calloway Is (Basically) Done Being a Scammer
“I actually think ultimately, in the long run, my first priority in this life is my art,” Calloway says. “If it’s: make books that live on after your death, or have a fulfilling family and be happy, I’m choosing books 10 times out of 10. I would rather make my art than be happy.”
Wesley Wang Portrait
Wesley Wang '26 started filmmaking when he was just 11. Now, the sophomore is undertaking his first full feature film with Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky '91.
‘Going Viral’ with Wesley Wang
Wang’s last film gained 3.7 million views on YouTube in the span of a few months. “You never expect anything to go viral,” he says, “although I did know for a fact this one was going to do better than my other ones.”
Fifteen Questions: Arthur M. Kleinman on Caregiving, Field Research in China, and His Love Story
A professor of anthropology of over 40 years, Kleinman studies patient-caregiver relationships in Asia. “I had the personal experience of taking care of my late wife, Joan, for 10 and a half years while she suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s disease and died from it,” he says. “That experience was transformative for me. I thought I knew everything about illness and care. I realized that I had a hell of a lot to learn. What is it to take care of someone who you love with a terrible disease?”
Fifteen Questions: Ned Friedman on the Arnold Arboretum, ‘Botanizing,’ and His Favorite Tree
The Organismic and Evolutionary Biology professor and Arboretum director took FM on a tour of the Arboretum, discussing botany, evolution, and his love of trees along the way. “Everything that is our reality has been shaped by plants,” he says.
Ned Friedman 15Q Arboretum Road
"Because these are really important trees for science and their conservation, we have to keep them alive," Friedman says.
Ned Friedman 15Q Arboretum Trees
"I’m gonna take you back a different way through the conifers, so we don’t repeat anything," Friedman says.
Ned Friedman Portrait
William “Ned” Friedman is the Director of the Arnold Arboretum and a Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.
Ned Friedman Tree Picture
"It’s kind of a magical tree, and it’s a mutant tree, too," Friedman says.
Hacking Harvard Bridge with Oliver R. Smoot
As a pledge, the fraternity made Smoot lay down on the bridge over 300 times, painting ticks at each smoot. Almost 70 years later, the Smoot markings remain, allowing pedestrians to measure their journey in “smoots.” According to a sign on the bridge, Cambridge and Boston are exactly 364.4 smoots apart.
Up Close with Lee Smith
Smith’s enduring attachment to his time is representative of his broader artistic philosophy, one of introspection and intimacy. Part of that philosophy emerged from an encounter with the groundbreaking photojournalist Gordon Parks during his visit to the yearbook staff.
Daniel Lieberman 15Q portrait
Daniel E. Lieberman is the chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology and professor of biological sciences.
Fifteen Questions: Sarah S. Richardson on Gender Equity in Science, Interdisciplinary Research, and Purring as a Superpower
The historian of science sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about gender, science, and her ideal superpower. "Science is done by humans in context in cultural spaces, and is inflected by those contexts," she says.
Fifteen Questions: Jeannie Suk Gersen on Free Speech, Fast Fashion, and Getting Over Yourself
The Harvard Law School professor and New Yorker writer Jeannie Suk Gersen sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss her exploration of various aspects of the law. "For me, I can’t imagine in my career not having that sense of spontaneity and unpredictability about what it is I’m going to get super interested in next," she says.
Jeannie Suk Gersen Portrait
Jeannie Suk Gersen is a Harvard Law School professor and a writer for The New Yorker.
Fifteen Questions: Claudia D. Goldin on the Nobel Prize, Women in Economics, and the Barbie Movie
Henry Lee Professor of Economics Claudia D. Goldin speaks with Fifteen Minutes about her Nobel Prize, gender gaps in economics, and the Barbie movie.
Claudia D. Goldin Portrait
Claudia D. Goldin is the 2023 Nobel Laureate in Economics and the Henry Lee Professor of Economics.
Fifteen Questions: Yevgenia Albats on Journalism in the USSR, Freedom of the Press, and Her Bibliophilia
The journalist sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about her career, including being declared an enemy of the Russian state, investigative reporting on KGB officials, and her deep love of reading that was kindled in Widener Library’s basement. “In many countries, people are suffering because of their cruel leaders, because of injustice, because of poverty, because of absence of normal medical help,” she says. “Our job is to tell their stories.”
Unapologetic Selfhood with Matta Zheng
“When students come to me — many, if not all the times — they’re really suffering because they’re worried, they’re concerned, or maybe they even believe that their person is fundamentally wrong in some way,” Zheng says. “I am able, when it’s appropriate and when it works, to affirm to them in no uncertain language, in the fullest ways that I can, their full humanity, their full perfection, their full wholeness.”
Avi Schiffman
Having once turned down a multimillion-dollar offer to monetize a Covid-19 tracking website, Harvard dropout Avi Schiffmann now intends to “conquer” the world of wearable AI.