7 speakers, 12 minutes each
As “shopping week” wound down, half a dozen popular professors — and, for the first time, one undergraduate — put their best wares on display Thursday evening at Harvard Thinks Big 4, a chance to take the stage at Sanders Theatre with a screen, a microphone, and one big thought. In 12 minutes apiece (two of them donated by President Drew Faust, who had to cancel her scheduled appearance), the panel members delved into their favorite ideas, ranging from a look at why dead Romans are so much fun to a detailed explanation of breast-feeding in mammals. Joseph Blitzstein, professor of the practice in statistics and co-director of undergraduate studies, opened a mini-Stat 110 class by displaying columns of airplanes (“They don’t look like fighter planes, but they’re fighter planes,” he said of his art) on the overhead screen, then shooting holes into them with a pointer. The planes illustrated the work...