document_title: Harvard University

question_text: when was the first woman admitted to harvard

text: Harvard University

text: History

text: Colonial

text: Harvard was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638, it obtained British North America's first known printing press.[24][25] In 1639 it was named Harvard College after deceased clergyman John Harvard an alumnus of the University of Cambridge who had left the school £779 and his scholar's library of some 400 volumes.[26] The charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650.

text: A 1643 publication gave the school's purpose as "to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust";[27] in its early years trained many Puritan ministers.[28] It offered a classic curriculum on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridge—but conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. It was never affiliated with any particular denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational and Unitarian churches.[29]

text: The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701. In 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, marking a turning of the college from Puritanism and toward intellectual independence.

text: 19th century

text: Throughout the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas of the power of reason and free will became widespread among Congregational ministers, putting those ministers and their congregations in tension with more traditionalist, Calvinist parties.[30]:1–4 When the Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, a struggle broke out over their replacements. Henry Ware was elected to the chair in 1805, and the liberal Samuel Webber was appointed to the presidency of Harvard two years later, which signaled the changing of the tide from the dominance of traditional ideas at Harvard to the dominance of liberal, Arminian ideas (defined by traditionalists as Unitarian ideas).[30]:4–5[31]:24

text: In 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassiz's approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans' "participation in the Divine Nature" and the possibility of understanding "intellectual existences". Agassiz's perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the "divine plan" in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on a presumed archetype for his evidence. This dual view of knowledge was in concert with the teachings of Common Sense Realism derived from Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, whose works were part of the Harvard curriculum at the time. The popularity of Agassiz's efforts to "soar with Plato" probably also derived from other writings to which Harvard students were exposed, including Platonic treatises by Ralph Cudworth, John Norris and, in a Romantic vein, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The library records at Harvard reveal that the writings of Plato and his early modern and Romantic followers were almost as regularly read during the 19th century as those of the "official philosophy" of the more empirical and more deistic Scottish school.[32]

text: Charles W. Eliot, president 1869–1909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, but by Transcendentalist Unitarian convictions. Derived from William Ellery Channing and Ralph Waldo Emerson, these convictions were focused on the dignity and worth of human nature, the right and ability of each person to perceive truth, and the indwelling God in each person.[33]

text: 20th century

text: During the 20th century, Harvard's international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the university's scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new graduate schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, became one of the most prominent schools for women in the United States. Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900.[12]

text: In the early 20th century, the student body was predominately "old-stock, high-status Protestants, especially Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians"—a group later called "WASPs" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). In 1923 a proposal by president A. Lawrence Lowell that Jews be limited to 15% of undergraduates was rejected, but Lowell did ban blacks from living in Harvard Yard; Lowell believed that "forcing" blacks and whites to live together "would increase a prejudice that ... is most unfortunate and probably growing." But by the 1970s, Harvard was much more diversified.[35][36][37] [38]

text: James Bryant Conant (president, 1933–1953) reinvigorated creative scholarship to guarantee its preeminence among research institutions. He saw higher education as a vehicle of opportunity for the talented rather than an entitlement for the wealthy, so Conant devised programs to identify, recruit, and support talented youth. In 1943, he asked the faculty make a definitive statement about what general education ought to be, at the secondary as well as the college level. The resulting Report, published in 1945, was one of the most influential manifestos in the history of American education in the 20th century.[39]

text: In 1945–1960 admissions policies were opened up to bring in students from a more diverse applicant pool. No longer drawing mostly from rich alumni of select New England prep schools, the undergraduate college was now open to striving middle class students from public schools; many more Jews and Catholics were admitted, but few blacks, Hispanics or Asians.[40]

text: Harvard graduate schools began admitting women in small numbers in the late 19th century, and during World War II, students at Radcliffe College (which since 1879 had been paying Harvard professors to repeat their lectures for women students) began attending Harvard classes alongside men,[41] The first class of women was admitted to Harvard Medical School in 1945.[42] Since the 1970s Harvard has been responsible for essentially all aspects of admission, instruction, and undergraduate life for women, and Radcliffe was formally merged into Harvard in 1999.[43]

text: 21st century

text: Drew Gilpin Faust, the Dean at Radcliffe, became the first female president of Harvard in 2007.[44][45]

text: Campuses

text: Cambridge

text: Harvard's 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, about 3 miles (5 km) west-northwest of downtown Boston, and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood. Harvard Yard itself contains the central administrative offices and main libraries of the university, academic buildings including Sever Hall and University Hall, Memorial Church, and the majority of the freshman dormitories. Sophomore, junior, and senior undergraduates live in twelve residential Houses, nine of which are south of Harvard Yard along or near the Charles River. The other three are located in a residential neighborhood half a mile northwest of the Yard at the Quadrangle (commonly referred to as the Quad), which formerly housed Radcliffe College students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard. Each residential house contains rooms for undergraduates, House masters, and resident tutors, as well as a dining hall and library. The facilities were made possible by a gift from Yale University alumnus Edward Harkness.[46]

text: Radcliffe Yard, formerly the center of the campus of Radcliffe College and now home of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard,[47] is adjacent to the Graduate School of Education and the Cambridge Common.

text: Between 2011 and 2013, Harvard University reported crime statistics for its main Cambridge campus that included 104 forcible sex offenses, 55 robberies, 83 aggravated assaults, 89 burglaries, and 43 cases of motor vehicle theft.[48]

text: Harvard also has commercial real estate holdings in Cambridge and Allston, on which it pays property taxes.[49] This includes the Allston Doubletree Hotel, The Inn at Harvard, and the Harvard Square Hotel.[50]

text: Allston

text: The Harvard Business School and many of the university's athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located on a 358-acre (145 ha) campus in Allston,[51] a Boston neighborhood across the Charles River from the Cambridge campus. The John W. Weeks Bridge, a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River, connects the two campuses. Intending a major expansion, Harvard now owns more land in Allston than it does in Cambridge.[52] A ten-year plan[53] calls for 1.4 million square feet (130,000 square meters) of new construction and 500,000 square feet (50,000 square meters) of renovations, including new and renovated buildings at Harvard Business School; a hotel and conference center; a multipurpose institutional building; renovations to graduate student housing and to Harvard Stadium; new athletic facilities; new laboratories and classrooms for the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; expansion of the Harvard Education Portal; and a district energy facility.

text: Longwood

text: Further south, the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health are located on a 21-acre (8.5 ha) campus in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) south of the Cambridge campus, and the same distance southwest of downtown Boston.[14] The Arnold Arboretum, in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, is also owned and operated by Harvard.

text: Other

text: Harvard also owns and operates the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, D.C.; the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts; the Concord Field Station in Estabrook Woods in Concord, Massachusetts[54] and the Villa I Tatti research center[55] in Florence, Italy. Harvard also operates the Harvard Shanghai Center in China.[56]

text: Organization and administration

text: Governance

text:
College/school
Year founded

Harvard College
1636

Medicine
1782

Divinity
1816

Law
1817

Dental Medicine
1867

Arts and Sciences
1872

Business
1908

Extension
1910

Design
1914

Education
1920

Public Health
1922

Government
1936

Engineering and Applied Sciences
2007

text: Harvard is governed by a combination of its Board of Overseers and the President and Fellows of Harvard College (also known as the Harvard Corporation), which in turn appoints the President of Harvard University.[57] There are 16,000 staff and faculty,[58] including 2,400 professors, lecturers, and instructors[59] teaching 7,200 undergraduates and 14,000 graduate students.[60]

text: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has primary responsibility for instruction in Harvard College, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, which includes Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School. There are ten other graduate and professional school faculties, in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.[clarification needed]

text: Joint programs with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology include the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Broad Institute, The Observatory of Economic Complexity, and edX.

text: Endowment

text: Harvard has the largest university endowment in the world. As of September 2011[update], it had nearly regained the loss suffered during the 2008 recession. It was worth $32 billion in 2011, up from $28 billion in September 2010[61] and $26 billion in 2009. It suffered about 30% loss in 2008–2009.[62][63] In December 2008, Harvard announced that its endowment had lost 22% (approximately $8 billion) from July to October 2008, necessitating budget cuts.[64] Later reports[65] suggest the loss was actually more than double that figure, a reduction of nearly 50% of its endowment in the first four months alone. Forbes in March 2009 estimated the loss to be in the range of $12 billion.[66] One of the most visible results of Harvard's attempt to re-balance its budget was their halting[65] of construction of the $1.2 billion Allston Science Complex that had been scheduled to be completed by 2011, resulting in protests from local residents.[67] As of 2012[update], Harvard University had a total financial aid reserve of $159 million for students, and a Pell Grant reserve of $4.093 million available for disbursement.[68]

text: Divestment

text: Since the 1970s, several campaigns have sought to divest Harvard's endowment from holdings the campaigns opposed, including investments in apartheid South Africa, the tobacco industry, Sudan during the Darfur genocide, and the fossil fuel industry.[69]

text: During the divestment from South Africa movement in the late 1980s, student activists erected a symbolic "shantytown" on Harvard Yard and blockaded a speech given by South African Vice Consul Duke Kent-Brown.[70][71] The Harvard Management Company repeatedly refused to divest, stating that "operating expenses must not be subject to financially unrealistic strictures or carping by the unsophisticated or by special interest groups."[72] However, the university did eventually reduce its South African holdings by $230 million (out of $400 million) in response to the pressure.[70][73]

text: Academics

text: Admission

text: Undergraduate admission to Harvard is characterized by the Carnegie Foundation as "more selective, lower transfer-in".[15] Harvard College accepted 5.2% of applicants for the class of 2021, a record low and the second lowest acceptance rate among all national universities.[74][75] Harvard College ended its early admissions program in 2007 as the program was believed to disadvantage low-income and under-represented minority applicants applying to selective universities, but for the class of 2016, an early action program was reintroduced.[76]

text: Harvard's undergraduate admission policies on preference for children of alumni have been the subject of scrutiny and debate as it has been claimed that it primarily aids Caucasians and the wealthy and seems to conflict with the concept of meritocratic admissions.[77][78] The freshman class entering in the fall of 2017 will be the first to be predominantly (50.8%) nonwhite.[79]

text: Teaching and learning

text: Harvard is a large, highly residential research university.[15] The university has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges since 1929.[81] The university offers 46 undergraduate concentrations (majors),[82] 134 graduate degrees,[83] and 32 professional degrees.[84] For the 2008–2009 academic year, Harvard granted 1,664 baccalaureate degrees, 400 master's degrees, 512 doctoral degrees, and 4,460 professional degrees.[84]

text: The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises a minority of enrollments at the university and emphasizes instruction with an "arts and sciences focus".[15] Between 1978 and 2008, entering students were required to complete a core curriculum of seven classes outside of their concentration.[85] Since 2008, undergraduate students have been required to complete courses in eight General Education categories: Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding, Culture and Belief, Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning, Ethical Reasoning, Science of Living Systems, Science of the Physical Universe, Societies of the World, and United States in the World.[86] Harvard offers a comprehensive doctoral graduate program, and there is a high level of coexistence[further explanation needed] between graduate and undergraduate degrees.[15] The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, The New York Times, and some students have criticized Harvard for its reliance on teaching fellows for some aspects of undergraduate education; they consider this to adversely affect the quality of education.[87][88]

text: Harvard's academic programs operate on a semester calendar beginning in early September and ending in mid-May.[89] Undergraduates typically take four half-courses per term and must maintain a four-course rate average to be considered full-time.[90] In many concentrations, students can elect to pursue a basic program or an honors-eligible program requiring a senior thesis and/or advanced course work.[91] Students graduating in the top 4–5% of the class are awarded degrees summa cum laude, students in the next 15% of the class are awarded magna cum laude, and the next 30% of the class are awarded cum laude.[92] Harvard has chapters of academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa and various committees and departments also award several hundred named prizes annually.[93] Harvard, along with other universities, has been accused of grade inflation,[94] although there is evidence that the quality of the student body and its motivation have also increased.[95] Harvard College reduced the number of students who receive Latin honors from 90% in 2004 to 60% in 2005. Moreover, the honors of "John Harvard Scholar" and "Harvard College Scholar" would now be given only to the top 5 percent and the next 5 percent of each class.[96][97][98][99]

text: University policy is to expel students engaging in academic dishonesty to discourage a "culture of cheating."[100][101][102] In 2012, dozens of students were expelled for cheating after an investigation of more than 120 students.[103] In 2013, there was a report that as many as 42% of incoming freshmen had cheated on homework prior to entering the university,[104] and these incidents have prompted the university to consider adopting an honor code.[102][105]

text: For the 2012–2013 school year, annual tuition was $38,000, with a total cost of attendance of $57,000.[106] Beginning in 2007, families with incomes below $60,000 pay nothing for their children to attend, including room and board. Families with incomes between $60,000 to $80,000 pay only a few thousand dollars per year, and families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 pay no more than 10% of their annual incomes.[16] In 2009, Harvard offered grants totaling $414 million across all eleven divisions;[further explanation needed] $340 million came from institutional funds, $35 million from federal support, and $39 million from other outside support. Grants total 88% of Harvard's aid for undergraduate students, with aid also provided by loans (8%) and work-study (4%).[107] Tuition only covers 6.4% of Harvard's operating costs.[108]

text: Research

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2013)

text: Harvard is a founding member of the Association of American Universities[109] and remains a research university with "very high" research activity and a "comprehensive" doctoral program across the arts, sciences, engineering, and medicine.[15] Research and development expenditures in 2011 totaled $649.7 million, 27th among American universities.[110]

text: Libraries and museums

text: The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises nearly 80 individual libraries holding over 18 million volumes.[17][18] According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.[18] Cabot Science Library, Lamont Library, and Widener Library are three of the most popular libraries for undergraduates to use, with easy access and central locations. There are rare books, manuscripts and other special collections throughout Harvard's libraries;[111] Houghton Library, the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and the Harvard University Archives consist principally of rare and unique materials. America's oldest collection of maps, gazetteers, and atlases both old and new is stored in Pusey Library and open to the public. The largest collection of East-Asian language material outside of East Asia is held in the Harvard-Yenching Library.

text: Harvard operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums. The Harvard Art Museums comprise three museums. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum includes collections of ancient, Asian, Islamic and later Indian art, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, formerly the Germanic Museum, covers central and northern European art, and the Fogg Museum of Art, covers Western art from the Middle Ages to the present emphasizing Italian early Renaissance, British pre-Raphaelite, and 19th-century French art. The Harvard Museum of Natural History includes the Harvard Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University Herbaria featuring the Blaschka Glass Flowers exhibit, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Other museums include the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Le Corbusier, housing the film archive, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, specializing in the cultural history and civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, and the Semitic Museum featuring artifacts from excavations in the Middle East.

text: University rankings

text:
University rankings

National

ARWU[112]
1

Forbes[113]
4

U.S. News & World Report[114]
2

Washington Monthly[115]
2

Global

ARWU[116]
1

QS[117]
3

Times[118]
6

U.S. News & World Report[119]
1

[show]National Program Rankings[120]

Program
Ranking

Biological Sciences
1

Business
1

Chemistry
4

Clinical Psychology
16

Computer Science
18

Earth Sciences
8

Economics
1

Education
1

Engineering
23

English
8

History
4

Law
3

Mathematics
3

Medicine: Primary Care
16

Medicine: Research
1

Physics
2

Political Science
1

Psychology
3

Public Affairs
3

Public Health
2

Sociology
1

Statistics
4

[show]Global Program Rankings[121]

Program
Ranking

Agricultural Sciences
13

Arts & Humanities
2

Biology & Biochemistry
1

Chemistry
9

Clinical Medicine
1

Computer Science
6

Economics & Business
1

Engineering
34

Environment/Ecology
2

Geosciences
7

Immunology
1

Materials Science
5

Mathematics
10

Microbiology
1

Molecular Biology & Genetics
1

Neuroscience & Behavior
1

Pharmacology & Toxicology
1

Physics
3

Plant & Animal Science
5

Psychiatry/Psychology
1

Social Sciences & Public Health
1

Space Science
2

text: Among overall rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has ranked Harvard as the world's best university every year since it was first released.[122] When QS and Times Higher Education were published in partnership as the THE-QS World University Rankings during 2004–2009, Harvard had also held the top spot every year.[123] Additionally, the THE World Reputation Rankings have consecutively ranked Harvard as the top institution among the world's "six super brand" universities, the others being Berkeley, Cambridge, MIT, Oxford and Stanford.[124][125]

text: Regarding rankings of specific indicators, Harvard topped both University Ranking by Academic Performance 2015–2016 and Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities (2011), which measured universities' numbers of alumni holding CEO positions in Fortune Global 500 companies.[126] According to the 2016 poll done by The Princeton Review, Harvard is the second most commonly named "dream college" in the United States, both for students and parents.[127] College ROI Report: Best Value Colleges by PayScale puts Harvard 22nd nationwide in the most recent 2016 edition.[128]

text: Student life

text:
Demographics of student body[129][130][131]

Undergraduate
Graduate
and professional
U.S. census

Asian/Pacific Islander
17%
11%
5%

Black/non-Hispanic
6%
4%
12%

Hispanics of any race
9%
5%
16%

White/non-Hispanic
46%
43%
64%

Mixed race/other
10%
8%
9%

International students
11%
27%
N/A

text: Student body

text: In the last six years, Harvard's student population ranged from 19,000 to 21,000, across all programs.[132] Harvard enrolled 6,655 students in undergraduate programs, 3,738 students in graduate programs, and 10,722 students in professional programs.[129] The undergraduate population is 51% female, the graduate population is 48% female, and the professional population is 49% female.[129]

text: Athletics

text: The Harvard Crimson competes in 42 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division I Ivy League. Harvard has an intense athletic rivalry with Yale University culminating in The Game, although the Harvard–Yale Regatta predates the football game. This rivalry is put aside every two years when the Harvard and Yale Track and Field teams come together to compete against a combined Oxford University and Cambridge University team, a competition that is the oldest continuous international amateur competition in the world.[133]

text: Harvard's athletic rivalry with Yale is intense in every sport in which they meet, coming to a climax each fall in the annual football meeting, which dates back to 1875 and is usually called simply "The Game". While Harvard's football team is no longer one of the country's best as it often was a century ago during football's early days (it won the Rose Bowl in 1920), both it and Yale have influenced the way the game is played. In 1903, Harvard Stadium introduced a new era into football with the first-ever permanent reinforced concrete stadium of its kind in the country. The stadium's structure actually played a role in the evolution of the college game. Seeking to reduce the alarming number of deaths and serious injuries in the sport, Walter Camp (former captain of the Yale football team), suggested widening the field to open up the game. But the stadium was too narrow to accommodate a wider playing surface. So, other steps had to be taken. Camp would instead support revolutionary new rules for the 1906 season. These included legalizing the forward pass, perhaps the most significant rule change in the sport's history.[134][135]

text: Harvard has several athletic facilities, such as the Lavietes Pavilion, a multi-purpose arena and home to the Harvard basketball teams. The Malkin Athletic Center, known as the "MAC", serves both as the university's primary recreation facility and as a satellite location for several varsity sports. The five-story building includes two cardio rooms, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a smaller pool for aquaerobics and other activities, a mezzanine, where all types of classes are held, an indoor cycling studio, three weight rooms, and a three-court gym floor to play basketball. The MAC offers personal trainers and specialty classes. It is home to Harvard volleyball, fencing and wrestling.

text: Weld Boathouse and Newell Boathouse house the women's and men's rowing teams, respectively. The men's crew also uses the Red Top complex in Ledyard, Connecticut, as their training camp for the annual Harvard-Yale Regatta. The Bright Hockey Center hosts the Harvard hockey teams, and the Murr Center serves both as a home for Harvard's squash and tennis teams as well as a strength and conditioning center for all athletic sports.

text: As of 2013[update], there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country.[136] As with other Ivy League universities, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships.[137]

text: Older than The Game by 23 years, the Harvard-Yale Regatta was the original source of the athletic rivalry between the two schools. It is held annually in June on the Thames River in eastern Connecticut. The Harvard crew is typically considered to be one of the top teams in the country in rowing. Today, Harvard fields top teams in several other sports, such as the Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey team (with a strong rivalry against Cornell), squash, and even recently won NCAA titles in Men's and Women's Fencing. Harvard also won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships in 2003.

text: Harvard's men's ice hockey team won the school's first NCAA Championship in any team sport in 1989. Harvard was also the first Ivy League institution to win a NCAA championship title in a women's sport when its women's lacrosse team won the NCAA Championship in 1990.

text: Harvard Undergraduate Television has footage from historical games and athletic events including the 2005 pep-rally before the Harvard-Yale Game.

text: The school color is crimson, which is also the name of the Harvard sports teams and the daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The color was unofficially adopted (in preference to magenta) by an 1875 vote of the student body, although the association with some form of red can be traced back to 1858, when Charles William Eliot, a young graduate student who would later become Harvard's 21st and longest-serving president (1869–1909), bought red bandanas for his crew so they could more easily be distinguished by spectators at a regatta.

text: Song

text: Harvard has several fight songs, the most played of which, especially at football, are "Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" and "Harvardiana." While "Fair Harvard" is actually the alma mater, "Ten Thousand Men" is better known outside the university. The Harvard University Band performs these fight songs, and other cheers at football and hockey games. These were parodied by Harvard alumnus Tom Lehrer in his song "Fight Fiercely, Harvard," which he composed while an undergraduate.

text: Notable people

text: Alumni

text:
2nd President of the United States John Adams (AB, 1755; AM, 1758)

6th President of the United States John Quincy Adams (AB, 1787; AM, 1798)

19th President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes (LLB, 1845)

26th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Theodore Roosevelt (AB, 1880)

32nd President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt (AB, 1903)

American author, political activist, and lecturer Helen Keller (AB, Radcliffe College, 1904)

35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy (SB, 1940)

President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (MPA, 1971)

11th Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto (AB, Radcliffe College, 1973)

43rd President of the United States George W. Bush (MBA, 1975)

Founder of Microsoft Bill Gates (COL, 1977; LLD, 2007)

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon (MPA, 1984)

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Elena Kagan (JD, Harvard Law School, 1986)

46th First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama (JD, 1988)

44th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama (JD, 1991)

Co-Founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg (COL, 2006)

text: Faculty

text: Harvard's faculty includes scholars such as biologist E. O. Wilson, psychologist Steven Pinker, physicists Lisa Randall and Roy Glauber, chemists Elias Corey, Dudley R. Herschbach and George M. Whitesides, computer scientists Michael O. Rabin and Leslie Valiant, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt, writer Louis Menand, critic Helen Vendler, historians Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Niall Ferguson, economists Amartya Sen, N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert Barro, Stephen A. Marglin, Don M. Wilson III and Martin Feldstein, political philosophers Harvey Mansfield, Baroness Shirley Williams and Michael Sandel, Fields Medalist mathematician Shing-Tung Yau, political scientists Robert Putnam, Joseph Nye, and Stanley Hoffmann, scholar/composers Robert Levin and Bernard Rands, astrophysicist Alyssa A. Goodman, and legal scholars Alan Dershowitz and Lawrence Lessig.

text: Past faculty members include Stephen Jay Gould, Robert Nozick, Stephan Thernstrom, Michael Walzer, and Cornel West.

text: Literature and popular culture

text: Harvard's legacy as a leading research and educational institution has a significant impact in both academy and popular culture. Furthermore, the perception of Harvard as a center of either elite achievement, or elitist privilege, has made it a frequent literary and cinematic backdrop. "In the grammar of film, Harvard has come to mean both tradition, and a certain amount of stuffiness," film critic Paul Sherman has said.[138]

text: Literature

text:
William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929) and Absalom! Absalom! (1936) both depict Harvard student life.
Of Time and the River (1935), Thomas Wolfe's fictionalized autobiography, includes his alter ego's student days at Harvard.
The Late George Apley (1937; winner of the Pulitzer Prize), by John P. Marquand, parodies Harvard men at the opening of the 20th century.
The Second Happiest Day (1953), by John P. Marquand, Jr., depicts the Harvard of the World War II generation.[139][140][141][142][143]

text: Film

text: Harvard's policy since 1970 has been to permit filming on its property only rarely, so most scenes set at Harvard (especially indoor shots, but excepting aerial footage and shots of public areas such as Harvard Square) are in fact shot elsewhere.[144][145]

text:
Erich Segal's Love Story (1970), which concerns a romance between a wealthy hockey player (Ryan O'Neal) and a brilliant Radcliffe student of modest means (Ali MacGraw), is screened annually for incoming freshmen.[146][147][148]
The Paper Chase (1973)[149]
Prozac Nation (2001)
Legally Blonde (2001)
Stealing Harvard (2002)
The Social Network (2010)


document_title: Hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis

question_text: how is the spermatogenesis in the testis inhibited by the brain testicular axis

root

text: Hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis

text: Location and regulation[edit]

text: The hypothalamus is located in the brain and secretes GnRH.[1] GnRH travels down the anterior portion of the pituitary via the hypophyseal portal system and binds to receptors on the secretory cells of the adenohypophysis.[2] In response to GnRH stimulation these cells produce LH and FSH, which travel into the blood stream.[3]

tag: p

text: These two hormones play an important role in communicating to the gonads. In females FSH and LH act primarily to activate the ovaries to produce estrogen and inhibin and to regulate the menstrual cycle and ovarian cycle. Estrogen forms a negative feedback loop by inhibiting the production of GnRH in the hypothalamus. Inhibin acts to inhibit activin, which is a peripherally produced hormone that positively stimulates GnRH-producing cells. Follistatin, which is also produced in all body tissue, inhibits activin and gives the rest of the body more control over the axis. In males LH stimulates the interstitial cells located in the testes to produce testosterone, and FSH plays a role in spermatogenesis. Only small amounts of estrogen are secreted in males. Recent research has shown that a neurosteroid axis exists, which helps the cortex to regulate the hypothalamus’s production of GnRH.[4]

text: In addition, leptin and insulin have stimulatory effects and ghrelin has inhibitory effects on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion from the hypothalamus.[5] Kisspeptin also influences GnRH secretion.[6]

text: Function[edit]

text: Reproduction[edit]

text: One of the most important functions of the HPG axis is to regulate reproduction by controlling the uterine and ovarian cycles.[7] In females, the positive feedback loop between estrogen and luteinizing hormone help to prepare the follicle in the ovary and the uterus for ovulation and implantation. When the egg is released, the empty follicle sac begins to produce progesterone to inhibit the hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary thus stopping the estrogen-LH positive feedback loop. If conception occurs, the placenta will take over the secretion of progesterone; therefore the mother cannot ovulate again. If conception does not occur, decreasing excretion of progesterone will allow the hypothalamus to restart secretion of GnRH. These hormone levels also control the uterine (menstrual) cycle causing the proliferation phase in preparation for ovulation, the secretory phase after ovulation, and menstruation when conception does not occur. The activation of the HPG axis in both males and females during puberty also causes individuals to acquire secondary sex characteristics.

text: In males, the production of GnRH, LH, and FSH are similar, but the effects of these hormones are different.[8] FSH stimulates sustentacular cells to release androgen-binding protein, which promotes testosterone binding. LH binds to the interstitial cells, causing them to secrete testosterone. Testosterone is required for normal spermatogenesis and inhibits the hypothalamus. Inhibin is produced by the spermatogenic cells, which, also through inactivating activin, inhibits the hypothalamus. After puberty these hormones levels remain relatively constant.

text: Life cycle[edit]

text: The activation and deactivation of the HPG axis also helps to regulate life cycles.[7] At birth FSH and LH levels are elevated, and females also have a lifetime supply of primary oocytes. These levels decrease and remain low through childhood. During puberty the HPG axis is activated by the secretions of estrogen from the ovaries or testosterone from the testes. This activation of estrogen and testosterone causes physiological and psychological changes. Once activated, the HPG axis continues to function in men for the rest of their life but becomes deregulated in women, leading to menopause. This deregulation is caused mainly by the lack of oocytes that normally produce estrogen to create the positive feedback loop. Over several years, the activity the HPG axis decreases and women are no longer fertile.[9]

text: Although males remain fertile until death, the activity of the HPG axis decreases. As males age, the testes begin to produce less testosterone, leading to a condition known as post-pubertal hypogonadism.[8] The cause of the decreased testosterone is unclear and a current topic of research. Post-pubertal hypogonadism results in progressive muscle mass decrease, increase in visceral fat mass, loss of libido, impotence, decreased attention, increased risk of fractures, and abnormal sperm production.

text: Sexual dimorphism and behavior[edit]

text: Sex steroids also affect behavior, because sex steroids affect the brains structure and functioning. During development, hormones help determine how neurons synapse and migrate to result in sexual dimorphisms.[10] These physical differences lead to differences in behavior. While GnRH has not been shown to have any direct influence on regulating brain structure and function, gonadotropins, sex steroids, and activin have been shown to have such effects. It is thought that FSH may have an important role in brain development and differentiation.

text: Testosterone levels have been shown to relate to prosocial behavior.[11] This helps create synaptogenesis by promoting neurite development and migration. Activin promotes neural plasticity throughout the lifespan and regulates the neurotransmitters of peripheral neurons. Environment can also affect hormones and behavior interaction.[12] Women have more connections between areas of language better enabling them to communicate than men. On average men outperform women on spatial reasoning tests, which is theorized to result from sexual differences.[citation needed] Testosterone has been linked to aggression and sex drive; therefore men tend to be more competitive or aggressive than women.[citation needed] There is also a large amount of individual diversity within all these traits and hormone levels.

text: Clinical relevance[edit]

text: Disorders[edit]

text: Disorders of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as:[13]

text:
WHO group I of ovulation disorders: Hypothalamic–pituitary failure
WHO group II of ovulation disorders: Hypothalamic–pituitary dysfunction. WHO group II is the most common cause of ovulation disorders, and the most common causative member is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).[14]

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text: Gene mutations[edit]

text: Genetic mutations and chromosomal abnormalities are two sources of HPG axis alteration.[15] Single mutations usually lead to changes in binding ability of the hormone and receptor leading to inactivation or over activation. These mutations can occur in the genes coding for GnRH, LH, and FSH or their receptors. Depending on which hormone and receptor are unable to bind different effects occur but all alter the HPG axis.

text: For example, the male mutation of the GnRH coding gene could result in hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. A mutation that cause a gain of function for LH receptor can result in a condition known as testotoxicosis, which cause puberty to occur between ages 2–3 years. Loss of function of LH receptors can cause male pseudohermaphroditism. In females mutations would have analogous effects. Hormone replacement can be used to initiate puberty and continue if the gene mutation occurs in the gene coding for the hormone. Chromosomal mutations tend to affect the androgen production rather than the HPG axis.

text: Suppression[edit]

text: The HPG axis can be suppressed by hormonal birth control administration. Although often described as preventing pregnancy by mimicking the pregnancy state, hormonal birth control is effective because it works on the HPG axis to mimic the luteal phase of a woman's cycle. The primary active ingredients are synthetic progestins, which mimic biologically derived progesterone. The synthetic progestin prevents the hypothalamus from releasing GnRH and the pituitary from releasing LH and FSH; therefore it prevents the ovarian cycle from entering the menstrual phase and prevents follicle development and ovulation. Also as a result, many of the side effects are similar to the symptoms of pregnancy. Alzheimer's has been shown to have a hormonal component, which could possibly be used as a method to prevent the disease.[16]

text: The HPG axis can also be suppressed by GnRH antagonists or continuous administration of GnRH agonist, such as in the following applications

text:
Ovarian suppression as breast cancer management, to prevent the body's formation of estrogen which may stimulate breast cancer cells. This is generally done by continuous administration of GnRH agonist.
Ovulation suppression as part of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in in vitro fertilization, in order to prevent the spontaneous ovulation of ovarian follicles before they can be harvested.

text: Environment factors[edit]

text: Environment can have large impact on the HPG axis. One example is women with eating disorders suffer from oligomenorrhea and secondary amenorrhea. Starvation from anorexia nervosa or bulimia causes the HPG axis to deactivate causing women's ovarian and uterine cycles to stop. Stress, physical exercise, and weight loss have been correlated with oligomenorrhea and secondary amenorrhea.[17] Similarly environmental factors can also affect men such as stress causing impotence. Prenatal exposure to alcohol can affect the hormones regulating fetal development resulting in foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.[18]

text: Comparative anatomy[edit]

text: The HPG axis is highly conserved in the animal kingdom.[19] While reproductive patterns may vary, the physical components and control mechanisms remain the same. The same hormones are used with some minor evolutionary modifications. Much of the research is done on animal models, because they mimic so well the control mechanism of humans. It is important to remember humans are the only species to hide their fertile period, but this effect is a difference in the effect of the hormones rather than a difference in the HPG axis.