His inscription reads: Harvard honors his eloquence, acuity and respect for human rights, and salutes the achievements of a multi-racial democracy in a rapidly changing continent.

Katchalski-Katzir has continued his original calling as a scientist since retiring as Israel's president earlier this year. Throughout his involvement in his country's politics--which culminated in his five-year term in the largely ceremonial office of president--he has continued his research in biophysics. He has been a visiting professor at the Rockefeller Institute since 1961. Born in Russia in 1916, Katchalski-Katzir worked as a research assistant at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University before emigrating to Israel.

His citation reads: Not only an inventive and influential scientist, but a paradigm of the man of learning as man of action.

Jordan, who has served as executive director of the National Urban League since 1972, has for years been one of the nation's most vocal proponents of economic revitalization for American cities, as a means of increasing the economic opportunities of blacks across the country. A native of Atlanta, Ga., Jordan worked as an attorney for the Atlanta Office of Economic Opportunity before taking on duties with the United Negro College Fund, and later the leadership of the National Urban League. As one of the leading spokesmen for urban blacks, he has been active in policy advising in Washington--to the point of a well-publicized rift with President Carter over the allocation of federal funds for the nation's cities.

Jordan's citation: A vigorous mind, voice and body breaching barriers to equal opportunity.

As one of the most famous of the civil rights leaders of the '60s, Wilkins has preserved his image as a proponent of moderate means of attaining racial equality in the United State. One of the main organizers of the massive civil rights march of Washington in 1963, he led the NAACP along a path of gradual but continuing struggle through 12 years of turmoil--a moderate course that earned him the derision of many more militant black leaders, as well as the steadfast opposition of segregationists. The 77-year-old Wilkins, who retired from his post as executive director of the NAACP last year, also has a background in journalism, having edited the NAACP's monthly magazine, The Crisis, for 15 years in the '30s and '40s.

Wilkin's citation: For almost half a century, he as worked with quiet zeal to realize the constitutional promises of our nation.

It has been quarter of a century since Watson and his colleague, Francis Crick, first published the results of their research into the molecular structure of DNA, but his name remains permanently associated with the mysteries of genetic replication. His research earned him a Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1962, while he was still in his 30s, and the book we wrote with Crick--The Double Helix, the story of their joint research in molecular biology--became a best-seller. His notoriety has followed him from his post at Harvard as Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences--a chair from which he retired last year--to his current work as director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

Watson's citation reads: Precocious investigator, uninhibited author, inspiring teacher: Harvard celebrates a modern biological discovery that ranks with those of Darwin and Mendel, and heralds as new and revolutionary era in the life sciences.

As a pioneer in developmental psychology, Erikson has witnessed many of his own works develop into classics in that field within his own lifetime. A native of Germany, he initiated study into the human life cycle and the manner in which whole societies respond to differing phases of personal development; his psychoanalytical research led him to author Gandhi's Truth, a psychological biography of the Indian leader, that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969. His Childhood and Society has also become a classic text. Erikson taught at the Medical School before joining the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as professor of Human Development--a post from which he retired eight years ago.

Erikson's citation: Humane theorist and teacher, his wisdom illuminates the stages of life through which we all must pass.

Cheever's novels and short stories, while statements of traditional morality, explore universal themes within the setting of latter-day America. A master of satire, Cheever most often studies the effects of modern pressures on the contemporary morality of the suburban middle-class, yet he never loses a sense of warmth and compassion toward his subjects. He sharpened his ear for dialogue in years of short-story writing for The New Yorker, among other publications, and has since graduated to novels, including The Wapshot Chronical and last year's impressive best-seller, Falconer.

His citation reads: A master chronicler of his times, he perceives in the American suburb a microcosm of the divisions, tensions and incongruous ecstasies of twentieth-century life.

Throughout her association with the University, Gilbert has remained a staunch supporter of women's education. A member of the Radcliffe Class of '36, she served as the school's acting president from 1964 to 1965, and later became the first woman ever elected president of the Board of Overseers--the larger of the University's two governing boards. Although she retired from that position in 1975, she has remained active on a number of visiting committees, and remains a Radcliffe trustee, which she has been since 1950.

Gilbert's citation reads: A woman of independent mind and great good humor, a loyal daughter of Radcliffe whose capricious heart goes out to Harvard.