J. MICHAEL BISHOP

J. Michael Bishop has long been considered a leading researcher in biomedical science, having analyzed the various processes by which normal cells become cancer cells. His pivotal contributions to his field have earned him many distinctions, culminating in the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded after Bishop co-discovered the cellular origin of a type of gene that has the potential to turn normal cells cancerous.

Bishop graduated from Gettysburg College and attended Harvard Medical School. In 1968, he began to teach at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he is now a university professor. In addition to his research, Bishop was won acclaim for his talents as an educator; in 1998, he was made Chancellor of UCSF.

He will receive a Doctor of Science degree.

ROBERT L. CARTER

Robert L. Carter, a prominent lawyer in major civil rights cases, has served as a judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York since 1972.

After three years as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Carter served as a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1944 to 1968. Carter prevailed in 21 of the 22 cases he argued before the United States Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Carter co-founded the National Conference of Black Lawyers and received the Federal Bar Council’s Emory Buckner Medal. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University and law degrees from Howard and Columbia. Carter will receive a Doctor of Laws degree today.

SUZANNE FARRELL

Ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell joined the New York Ballet Company in 1961 and quickly rose through its ranks, eventually becoming the company’s lead female dancer.

Farrell—who, as a child, aspired to be a professional clown—gained attention for her unique style of dance, combining technical precision with physical lyricism.

She is presently artistic director of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company, répétiteur of the George Balanchine Trust and professor of dance at Florida State University. Last year Farrell received the National Medal of Arts. Today, Harvard will award her the honorary Doctor of Arts degree.

DANIEL KAHNEMAN

Daniel Kahneman has for years been a leading researcher in the field of psychology, studying the way humans judge and make decisions.

Along with his longtime research partner, the late Amos Tversky, he has shaken the founding assumptions of his field. For instance, his research has shown that people do not always act rationally when confronted with economic decisions. When feeling uncertain in a demanding situation, humans may reach the absolute limits of their ability to think, he found.