Messenger Lectures

Dr. Hiram John Messenger Jr (July 6, 1855 - Dec. 15, 1913; B. Litt., Phd,{{cite web|title=The Mathematics Genealogy Project - Hiram Messenger, Jr|work=Mathematics Genealogy Project|publisher=Department of Mathematics, North Dakota State University|url=http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=38229|access-date=2009-07-29|quote=Ph.D. Cornell University 1886. Dissertation: Modern Methods in Geometric Conics. Advisor: James Edward Oliver}}) was from Hartford, Connecticut{{cite book|last=Sigerist|first=Henry Ernest|title=Civilization and disease|publisher=Ayer Publishing|year=1970|pages=xii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9h7eBJkZjcC&pg=PR12|isbn=0-8434-0093-5}} and graduated from Cornell in 1880.{{cite web|last=Lang|first=Susan S.|title=Britain's Astronomer Royal will deliver Messenger lectures|work=Cornell Chronicle|publisher=Cornell University|date=2006-04-07|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/4.7.05/Rees_Messenger_lect.html|access-date=2009-07-25|quote=The Messenger Lectures were established in 1924 by a gift from Hiram Messenger, who graduated from Cornell in 1880, with the intent of raising the moral standards of political, business and social life}} He was a teacher of mathematics{{cite web|last=Sullivan|first=Robert|title=Political economist Fukuyama warns of 'weak states' in Messenger Lecture|work=Cornell Chronicle|publisher=Cornell University|date=2003-03-06|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/3.6.03/Fukuyama_lect.html|access-date=2009-07-25}} Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of the City of New York{{cite book|last=Edward|first=Poole Murray|title=Distinguished Cornellians: A story historical of Cornell University with biographies of distinguished Cornellians|publisher=THE CAYUGA PRESS|year=1916|location=Ithaca, New York|url=https://archive.org/stream/storyhistoricalo00poolrich/storyhistoricalo00poolrich_djvu.txt}} and an actuary of the Traveler's Insurance Company. The gift he left to Cornell was part of $4,000 mentioned in his will{{cite news|title=LEFT FUND TO CORNELL.; Hiram L. Messenger Provided $4,000 Memorial in His Will|work=The New York Times|pages=8|date=1913-12-25|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D03E5DF113FE633A25756C2A9649D946296D6CF|access-date=2009-07-25|quote=In the will of Hiram J. Messenger, actuary of the Travelers' Insurance Company, filed to-day, Cornell University is remembered,}} and a portion of his estate goes to Cornell each year. He was himself the youngest son of Hiram J. Messenger, a mercantile businessman and owner of banks.{{cite web|title=Biographic Section A from Smiths history: CHAPTER XXXIV, HIRAM J. MESSENGER|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycortla/smhist/bioseca.htm|access-date=2009-07-25}}

:See the [https://deanoffaculty.cornell.edu/faculty-and-academic-affairs/messengeruniversity-lectures/university-and-messenger-lectures-1960-present/ list of Messenger Lectures] at Cornell University for a complete list

There have been over 80 talks given since 1924, the most famous of which is probably Richard Feynman's 7 lecture series in 1964, The Character of Physical Law, the videos of which were bought and made available to the public by Bill Gates in 2009.

A partial listing of some of the lecturers over the years is provided in Cornell's Messenger Lectures brochure as:

• Michael Moss (2016)
• Cecilia Vicuña (2015)
• Leonard Susskind (2014)
• Nima Arkani-Hamed (2010)
• Steven Weinberg (2007)
• Sir Martin Rees (2005)
• Maynard Solomon (1992)
• Susan Moller Okin (1989)
• Peter Nye (1989)
• Edward W. Said (1986)
• Quentin Skinner (1983)
• Jean Seznec (1978)
• Noam Chomsky (1976)
• Edward O. Wilson (1976)
• Richard Feynman (1964)
• 1960-1961 Fred Hoyle, Astronomy, University of Cambridge
• 1959-1960 Linus Pauling, Chemistry, California Institute of Technology
• 1959-1960 Arthur F. Burns, Economics, Columbia University
• 1958-1959 Vincent Wigglesworth, Zoology, University of Cambridge
• 1957-1958 Guido Pontecorvo, Genetics, University of Glasgow
• 1957-1958 Paul Tillich, Religion, Harvard University
• 1956-1957 W. K. C. Guthrie, Classics, University of Cambridge
• 1956-1957 Alfred L. Kroeber, Anthropology, University of California
• 1955-1956 Edward C. Kirkland, History, Bowdoin College
• 1955-1956 Arthur J. Altmeyer, Louis I. Dublin, Edward J. Stieglitz, Gerontology
• 1954-1955 Philip Kuenen, Submarine Geology, Groningen, the Netherlands
• 1954-1955 Alpheus T. Mason, Government, Princeton University
• 1953-1954 Luther Gulick, Public Administration, New York
• 1953-1954 C. B. van Niel, Bacteriology, Stanford University
• 1952-1953 Joseph Wood Krutch, Drama, Columbia University
• 1952-1953 Theodore von Karman, Engineering, California Institute of Technology
• 1951-1952 Otto Struve, Astronomy, Yerkes Observatory
• 1951-1952 Robert Redfield, Anthropology, University of Chicago
• 1950-1951 William F. Albright, Archaeology, Johns Hopkins University
• 1950-1951 Thomas A. Bailey, Russian-American Relations, Stanford University
• 1950-1951 Jens Clausen, Botany, Stanford University
• 1949-1950 Otto E. Neugebauer, History of Mathematics, Brown University
• 1949-1950 Vincent du Vigneaud, Biochemistry, Cornell Medical College
• 1948-1949 Otto Kinkeldey, Musicology, Harvard University
• 1948-1949 Harvey Fletcher, Acoustics, Bell Telephone Laboratories
• 1947-1948 Howard Mumford Jones, American Literature, Harvard University
• 1947-1948 Catherine Bauer, Housing, University of Cambridge
• 1947-1948 Marjorie Hope Nicolson, English Literature, Columbia University
• 1946-1947 Sumner Slichter, Economics, Harvard University
• 1945-1946 Hu Shih, History of Chinese Philosophy, Peking
• 1945-1946 J. Robert Oppenheimer, Atomic Physics, California Inst. Of Technology
• 1945-1946 C. C. Little, L. H. Snyder, H. J. Muller, Gene
• 1944-1945 Douglas Bush, English Literature, Harvard University
• 1944-1945 T. R. McConnell, W. H. Cowley, W. DeVane, Higher Education
• 1944-1945 Charles E. Kellogg, Agronomy, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• 1944-1945 Lydia Roberts, Nutrition, University of Chicago
• 1943-1944 Griffith Taylor, Geography, Toronto
• 1942-1943 Carl L. Becker, Cornell History, Cornell University
• 1942-1943 H. Peyre, French Literature, Yale University
• 1941-1942 H. M. Evans, Endocrinology, University of California
• 1941-1942 T. M. River and others, Virus Diseases, Rockefeller Institute
• 1940-1941 F. A. Pottle, Modern Poetry, Yale University
• 1940-1941 H. E. Sigerist, History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
• 1939-1940 T. D. Kendrick, Archaeology, British Museum
• 1938-1939 G. P. Adams, Philosophy, University of California
• 1938-1939 G. H. McIlwain, History of Political Theory, Harvard University
• 1937-1938 E. J. Dent, Musicology, University of Cambridge
• 1936-1937 Isaiah Bowman, Geography, Johns Hopkins University
• 1936-1937 Robert Hegner, Parasitology, Johns Hopkins University
• 1935-1936 W. M. Calder, History of Christianity, University of Edinburgh
• 1934-1935 W. C. Mitchell, Economics, Columbia University
• 1933-1934 Sir Arthur Eddington, Astronomy, University of Cambridge
• 1932-1933 B. Malinowski, Anthropology, London
• 1931-1932 F. J. Mather, Fine Arts, Princeton University
• 1930-1931 T. H. Morgan, Genetics, California Institute of Technology
• 1929-1930 Roscoe Pound, Law, Harvard University
• 1928-1929 E. L. Thorndike, Psychology, Columbia University
• 1927-1928 T. F. Tout, English History, Manchester
• 1926-1927 H. J. C. Grierson, English Literature, University of Edinburgh
• 1925-1926 R. A. Millikan, Physics, California Institute of Technology
• 1924-1925 J. H. Breasted, Ancient History, Chicago

• Project Tuva

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/messenger.html Feynman's Messenger Lectures]
• [https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylorian/2016/07/22/six-unpublished-lectures-by-jean-seznec/ Jean Seznec's Messenger Lectures “Revival and Metamorphoses of the Gods in Nineteenth Century Art and Literature”]

{{Cornell}}

Category:Cornell University

Category:University and college lecture series

Category:1925 establishments in New York (state)

Category:Recurring events established in 1925