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How the U.S. can be a world leader in the 21st century by placing a renewed focus on scientific research. IN THE 20th century, issues of national and international security were transformed by a revolution in solid-state physics that allowed mankind to take flight and split the atom. Advances in physics also led to the development of the transistor, the semiconductor and ultimately to the information technology explosion that transformed economic life. The 20th century was an American century in no small part because of American leadership in the application of the physical sciences. Although the theories of relativity and...

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., Feb. 13 — A year after weathering a no-confidence vote by the faculty, Harvard University's president, Lawrence H. Summers, is facing another showdown with dissident faculty members, raising new questions about his ability to maintain control over the university and perhaps even to remain in office. The latest conflict was set off by the abrupt announcement late last month that William C. Kirby, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, the university's largest school, would step down in the summer. The arts and science faculty has scheduled a vote on Feb. 28 on a new resolution...

Lawrence H. Summers, the embattled president of Harvard University, said today that the university would spend at least $50 million over the next decade on initiatives to recruit, support and promote women and members of minorities on its faculty. The financial commitment was among a number of new efforts endorsed by Dr. Summers, who has been the object of criticism for his management style and for remarks he made in January suggesting that "intrinsic aptitude" might be a factor behind the low numbers of women in science and engineering. Dr. Summers also backed specific proposals by two committees he appointed...

"CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 17 - Bowing to pressure from his faculty, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, on Thursday released a month-old transcript of his contentious closed-door remarks about the shortage of women in the sciences and engineering. The transcript revealed several provocative statements by Dr. Summers about the "intrinsic aptitude" of women, the career pressures they face and discrimination within universities. Dr. Summers's remarks, which have only been described by others until now, have fueled a widening crisis on campus, with several professors talking about taking a vote of no confidence on the president next week. That...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 17 - Bowing to pressure from his faculty, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, on Thursday released a month-old transcript of his contentious closed-door remarks about the shortage of women in the sciences and engineering. The transcript revealed several provocative statements by Dr. Summers about the "intrinsic aptitude" of women, the career pressures they face and discrimination within universities. Dr. Summers's remarks, which have only been described by others until now, have fueled a widening crisis on campus, with several professors talking about taking a vote of no confidence on the president next week. That...

WASHINGTON -- The present acrimonious controversy that Lawrence H. Summers, the president of Harvard University, finds himself in reminds me of something I have suspected for years. The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech is a reactionary blight inimical to all true progressives and certain to be formally eliminated from the Constitution as soon as progressives again gain ascendancy. There have been times when progressives, or liberals as they are often called, championed free speech, for instance, in the early days of the Cold War and during youthful protests in the 1960s. In the early days of the Cold War...

Members of a Harvard faculty committee that has examined the recruiting of professors who are women sent a protest letter yesterday to Lawrence H. Summers, the university's president, saying his recent statements about innate differences between the sexes would only make it harder to attract top candidates. The committee told Mr. Summers that his remarks did not "serve our institution well." "Indeed," the letter said, "they serve to reinforce an institutional culture at Harvard that erects numerous barriers to improving the representation of women on the faculty, and to impede our current efforts to recruit top women scholars. They also...

Harvard President's Comments on Women Prompt Criticism By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: January 17, 2005 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The president of Harvard University prompted criticism for suggesting that innate differences between the sexes could help explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers. Lawrence H. Summers, speaking Friday at an economic conference, also questioned how great a role discrimination plays in keeping female scientists and engineers from advancing at elite universities. The remarks prompted Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist Nancy Hopkins -- a Harvard graduate -- to walk out on Summers' talk, The Boston Globe reported. ``It...

The president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, who offended some women at an academic conference last week by suggesting that innate differences in sex may explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers, stood by his comments yesterday but said he regretted if they were misunderstood. "I'm sorry for any misunderstanding but believe that raising questions, discussing multiple factors that may explain a difficult problem, and seeking to understand how they interrelate is vitally important," Dr. Summers said in an interview. Several women who participated in the conference said yesterday that they had been surprised or outraged...

<p>CAMBRIDGE - The national movement to pressure universities to pull their investments from Israel has been battered this year by critics who call it divisive and anti-Semitic.</p> <p>But it has shown remarkable staying power in large part because of an unusual group of supporters: Jewish professors.</p>