Name	Harvard University
Image name	Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1.svg
Motto	''Veritas''
Established	September 8, 1636 (OS)
Mottoeng	Truth
Type	Private
Calendar	Semester
Endowment	US$27.4 billion
Harvard corporation chairman	James R. Houghton
President	Drew Gilpin Faust
Students	21,225
Undergrad	7,181 total6,655 College526 Extension
Postgrad	14,044
Staff	2,497 non-medical10,674 medical
Faculty	2,107
City	Cambridge
State	Massachusetts
Country	U.S.
Campus	Urban (Main campus) (Medical campus) (Allston campus)
Athletics	41 Varsity TeamsIvy LeagueNCAA Division I
Colors	Crimson
Free label	Newspaper
Free	''The Harvard Crimson''
Nickname	Harvard Crimson
Website	harvard.edu
Logo
Publictransit	Harvard (MBTA station) }}

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation (officially ''The President and Fellows of Harvard College'') chartered in the country. Harvard's history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Harvard was named after its first benefactor, John Harvard. Although it was never formally affiliated with a church, the college primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Harvard's curriculum and students became increasingly secular throughout the 18th century and by the 19th century had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's forty year tenure (1869–1909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a centralized research university, and Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College. Drew Gilpin Faust was elected the 28th president in 2007 and is the first woman to lead the university. Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, standing at $27.4 billion as of September 2010.

The university comprises eleven separate academic units — ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study — with campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area. Harvard's main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately northwest of downtown Boston. The business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles River in Allston and the medical, dental, and public health schools are located in the Longwood Medical Area.

As of 2010, Harvard employs about 2,100 faculty to teach and advise approximately 6,700 undergraduates (Harvard College) and 14,500 graduate and professional students. Eight U.S. presidents have graduated from Harvard and 75 Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the university as students, faculty, or staff. Harvard is also the alma mater of sixty-two living billionaires, the most in the country. The Harvard University Library is the largest academic library in the United States, and the second largest library in the country.

The Harvard Crimson competes in 41 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division I Ivy League. Harvard has an intense athletic rivalry with Yale University traditionally culminating in ''The Game'', although the Harvard–Yale Regatta predates the football game.

History

Colonial

Harvard was founded in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Initially called "New College" or "the college at New Towne", the institution was renamed ''Harvard College'' on March 13, 1639. It was named after John Harvard, a young English clergyman from Southwark, London, an alumnus of the University of Cambridge (after which Cambridge, Massachusetts is named), who bequeathed the College his library of four hundred books and £779 pounds sterling, which was half of his estate. The charter creating the corporation of Harvard College came in 1650. In the early years, the College trained many Puritan ministers. The college offered a classic academic course based on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended Cambridge University—but one consistent with the prevailing Puritan philosophy. The college was never affiliated with any particular denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational and Unitarian churches throughout New England. An early brochure, published in 1643, described the founding of the college as a response to the desire "to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches".

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, which marked a turning of the College toward intellectual independence from Puritanism.

19th century

Religion and philosophy

The takeover of Harvard by the Unitarians in 1805 resulted in the secularization of the American college. By 1850 Harvard was the "Unitarian Vatican." The "liberals" (Unitarians) allied themselves with high Federalists and began to create a set of private societies and institutions meant to shore up their cultural and political authority, a movement that prefigured the emergence of the Boston Brahmin class. On the other hand, the theological conservatives used print media to argue for the maintenance of open debate and democratic governance through a diverse public sphere, seeing the liberals' movement as an attempt to create a cultural oligarchy in opposition to Congregationalist tradition and republican political principles.

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 one 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 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.

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.

20th century

During the 20th century, Harvard's international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the university's scope. Explosive growth in the student population continued with the addition of new graduate schools and the expansion of the undergraduate program. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, became one of the most prominent schools for women in the United States.

Meritocracy

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.

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.

Women

Women remained segregated at Radcliffe, though more and more took Harvard classes. Nonetheless, Harvard's undergraduate population remained predominantly male, with about four men attending Harvard College for every woman studying at Radcliffe. Following the merger of Harvard and Radcliffe admissions in 1977, the proportion of female undergraduates steadily increased, mirroring a trend throughout higher education in the United States. Harvard's graduate schools, which had accepted females and other groups in greater numbers even before the college, also became more diverse in the post-World War II period.

In 1999, Radcliffe College, founded in 1879 as the "Harvard Annex for Women", merged formally with Harvard University, becoming the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Drew Gilpin Faust, the Dean at Radcliffe, became the first woman president of Harvard in 2007.

Liberalism

Harvard and its affiliates, like many American universities, are considered by some to be politically liberal (left of center). Conservative author William F. Buckley, Jr. quipped that he would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty, Richard Nixon famously referred to Harvard as the "Kremlin on the Charles" around 1970, and Vice President George H.W. Bush disparaged what he saw to be Harvard's liberalism during the 1988 presidential election. Republicans remain a small minority of faculty, and the University has refused to officially recognize the Harvard Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program — forcing students to commission through nearby MIT. The Harvard College Handbook explains, "Current federal policy of excluding known lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals from admission to ROTC or of discharging them from service is inconsistent with Harvard’s values as stated in its policy on discrimination." In 2011, Harvard announced that it will reinstate the ROTC program, following the repeal of Don't ask don't tell.

President Lawrence Summers resigned his presidency in 2006. His resignation came just one week before a second planned vote of no confidence by the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Former president Derek Bok served as interim president. Members of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which instructs graduate students in GSAS and undergraduates in Harvard College, had passed an earlier motion of "lack of confidence" in Summers' leadership on March 15, 2005 by a 218–185 vote, with 18 abstentions. The 2005 motion was precipitated by comments about the causes of gender demographics in academia made at a closed academic conference and leaked to the press. In response, Summers convened two committees to study this issue: the Task Force on Women Faculty and the Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering. Summers had also pledged $50 million to support their recommendations and other proposed reforms. Drew Gilpin Faust is the 28th president of Harvard. An American historian, former dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and Lincoln Professor of History at Harvard University, Faust is the first female president in the university's history.

Administration and organization

A faculty of approximately 2,160 professors, lecturers, and instructors serve as of school year 2008-09, with 6,715 undergraduate and 12,424 graduate students. 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.

Harvard has a friendly rivalry with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which dates back to 1900 when a merger of the two schools was frequently discussed and at one point officially agreed upon (ultimately canceled by Massachusetts courts). Today, the two schools cooperate as much as they compete, with many joint conferences and programs, including the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Broad Institute, the Harvard-MIT Data Center and formerly the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology. In addition, students at the two schools can cross-register in undergraduate or graduate classes without any additional fees, for credits toward their own school's degrees.

Organizations

Governing bodies

Harvard is governed by two boards, one of which is the President and Fellows of Harvard College, also known as the Harvard Corporation, founded in 1650, and the other is the Harvard Board of Overseers. The President of Harvard University is the day-to-day administrator of Harvard and is appointed by and responsible to the Harvard Corporation. There are 16,000 staff and faculty.

Faculties and schools

Harvard today has the following faculties, listed below in order of foundation:

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences and its sub-faculty, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which together serve:

* Harvard College, the university's undergraduate portion (1636)

* The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (organized 1872)

* The Harvard Division of Continuing Education, including Harvard Summer School (1871) and Harvard Extension School (1910).

Harvard Medical School (1782)

Harvard School of Dental Medicine (1867).

Harvard Divinity School (1816)

Harvard Law School (1817)

Harvard Business School (1908)

Graduate School of Design (1914)

Harvard Graduate School of Education (1920)

Harvard School of Public Health (1922)

Harvard Kennedy School (1936)

In 1999, the former Radcliffe College was reorganized as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

In February 2007, the Harvard Corporation and Overseers formally approved the Harvard Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences to become the 14th School of Harvard (Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences).

The Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts): The RCC was founded in 1990 as a joint cooperative institution to foster intellectual and scientific interaction between Harvard University and Complutense, with the support of HM King Juan Carlos I, HM Queen Sofia of Spain and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It follows the tradition of the Royal Spanish College, founded in 1364 to host Spanish Visiting Scholars at the University of Bologna. The RCC accord is the only one of its sort ever to have been approved by Harvard. The institution is directed jointly by the President of Harvard and the Rector of Complutense University, with an academic council formed by 5 Harvard professors and 5 Complutense professors. It permits a select number of Complutense professors to conduct their research at Harvard as Visiting Scholars. ''RCC Fellows'' enjoy the same privileges as Harvard's non-tenured Faculty. Each year the institution hosts the RCC Fellows Lectures, a conference cycle during which the Visiting Scholars deliver lectures revealing the results of their investigations to an audience of Harvard professors and students. Finally, it also permits a small number of students to attend doctoral school at the University as ''Research Associates'', under scholarships hosted by the Spanish Royal Family.

Endowment

Harvard has the largest university endowment in the world. At the end of June 2009, it was worth $25.7 billion, about 30% less than at the same time in 2008. In December 2008, Harvard announced that its endowment had lost 22% (approximately $8 billion) from July to October 2008, necessitating budget cuts. Later reports 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. One of the most visible results of Harvard's attempt to re-balance its budget was their halting 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.

Large endowments like Harvard's have been criticized for "hoarding" money. Most philanthropies are required by federal law to distribute 5% of their assets per year, but university endowments are not required to spend anything. Many universities with very large endowments would require an expenditure of less than 5% of their endowment to cover full tuition for all their students. For example, it has been estimated that if in 2006 all the Harvard students paid the maximum in tuition and fees, it would amount to less than $300 million. In 2007, if Harvard had allocated 6% of its $34.6 billion endowment toward tuition, all Harvard undergraduate and graduate students could attend for free and the university would still have $1.3 billion left over. It would require less than 1% of the endowments of Harvard and Yale to allow all students to attend tuition-free; Stanford, MIT, Princeton and Rice would require less than 2% of their endowments and 29 schools would require less than 3% for all their students to attend tuition-free. Despite the decreasing values of endowments, congressmen, including Charles Grassley, have questioned whether the endowments are contributing enough to maintain their tax-exempt status. Peter Hotez of George Washington University has claimed that pharmaceutical companies are contributing more to the poorest people than are wealthy universities.

Campus

Harvard's main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 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. The Harvard MBTA station provides public transportation via bus service and the Red Line subway.

The Harvard Business School and many of the university's athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located on a campus opposite the Cambridge campus in Allston. The John W. Weeks Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River connecting both campuses. The Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health are located on a campus in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area approximately southwest of downtown Boston and south of the Cambridge campus. A private shuttle bus connects the Longwood campus to the Cambridge campus via Massachusetts Avenue making stops in the Back Bay and at MIT as well.

Each residential house contains rooms for undergraduates, House masters, and resident tutors, as well as a dining hall, library, and various other student facilities. The facilities were made possible by a gift from Yale University alumnus Edward Harkness.

Radcliffe Yard, formerly the center of the campus of Radcliffe College (and now home of the Radcliffe Institute), is adjacent to the Graduate School of Education and the Cambridge Common.

From 2006 - 2008, Harvard University reported on-campus crime statistics that included 48 forcible sex offenses, 10 robberies, 15 aggravated assaults, 750 burglaries, and 12 cases of motor vehicle theft.

Satellite facilities

Apart from its major Cambridge/Allston and Longwood campuses, Harvard owns and operates Arnold Arboretum, in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston; the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, D.C.; the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts; and the Villa I Tatti research center in Florence and the Harvard Shanghai Center in China.

Major campus expansion

Throughout the past several years, Harvard has purchased large tracts of land in Allston, a walk across the Charles River from Cambridge, with the intent of major expansion southward. The university now owns approximately fifty percent more land in Allston than in Cambridge. Various proposals to connect the traditional Cambridge campus with the new Allston campus include new and enlarged bridges, a shuttle service and/or a tram. Ambitious plans also call for sinking part of Storrow Drive (at Harvard's expense) for replacement with park land and pedestrian access to the Charles River, as well as the construction of bike paths, and an intently planned fabric of buildings throughout the Allston campus. The institution asserts that such expansion will benefit not only the school, but surrounding community, pointing to such features as the enhanced transit infrastructure, possible shuttles open to the public, and park space which will also be publicly accessible.

One of the foremost driving forces for Harvard's pending expansion is its goal of substantially increasing the scope and strength of its science and technology programs. The university plans to construct two 500,000 square foot (50,000 m²) research complexes in Allston, which would be home to several interdisciplinary programs, including the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an enlarged Engineering department.

In addition, Harvard intends to relocate the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard School of Public Health to Allston. The university also plans to construct several new undergraduate and graduate student housing centers in Allston, and it is considering large-scale museums and performing arts complexes as well. Unfortunately the large drop in endowment has halted these plans for now.

Sustainability

In 2000, Harvard hired a full-time campus sustainability professional and launched the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, since institutionalized as the Office for Sustainability (OFS). With a full-time staff of 25, dozens of student interns, and a $12 million Loan Fund for energy and water conservation projects, OFS is one of the most advanced campus sustainability programs in the country. Harvard was one of 27 schools to receive a grade of "A-" from the Sustainable Endowments Institute on its College Sustainability Report Card 2010, the highest grade awarded.

Academics

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

The four year, full-time undergraduate program comprises a minority of enrollments at the university and emphasizes instruction with an "arts & sciences focus". Between 1978 and 2008, entering students were required to complete a "Core Curriculum" of seven classes outside of their concentration. 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. Harvard offers a comprehensive doctoral graduate program and there is a high level of coexistence between graduate and undergraduate degrees. 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.

Harvard's academic programs operate on a semester calendar beginning in early September and ending in mid-May. Undergraduates typically take four half-courses per term and must maintain a four-course rate average to be considered full time. In many concentrations, students can elect to pursue a basic program or a honors-eligible program requiring a senior thesis and/or advanced course work. 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''. Harvard has chapters of academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa and various committees and departments also award several hundred named prizes annually. Harvard, along with other universities, has been accused of grade inflation, although there is evidence that the quality of the student body and its motivation have also increased. 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" will now be given only to the top 5 percent and the next 5 percent of each class.

Undergraduate tuition for the 2009–2010 school year was $33,696 and the total cost with fees, room, and board was $48,868. Under financial aid guidelines adopted in 2007, parents in families with incomes of less than $60,000 will no longer be expected to contribute any money to the cost of attending Harvard for their children, including room and board. Families with incomes in the $60,000 to $80,000 range contribute an amount of only a few thousand dollars a year. In December 2007, Harvard announced that families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 will only have to pay up to 10% of their annual household income towards tuition. In 2009, Harvard offered grants totaling $414.1 million across all 11 divisions; $339.5 million came from institutional funds, $35.3 million from federal support, and $39.2 million from other outside support. Grants total 87.7% of Harvard's aid for undergraduate students, with aid also provided by loans (8.4%) and work-study (3.9%).

Rankings

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Harvard's undergraduate program is ranked first among "National Universities" by ''U.S. News & World Report'' and sixth by ''Forbes''. The university is ranked ninth nationally by ''The Washington Monthly''.

Internationally, Harvard is ranked first in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and second in the QS World University Rankings. When the two lists were published in partnership between 2004 and 2009 as the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, Harvard was ranked first each year. Harvard is ranked first by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), a position it has held since the first ARWU rankings were released in 2003. In its individual subject tables, ARWU ranked Harvard first in natural sciences and mathematics, life and agricultural sciences, clinical medicine and pharmacy, social sciences, and 42nd in engineering/technology and computer sciences. In individual fields in 2010, Harvard is ranked first in Physics and Economics/Business, second in Chemistry, third in Mathematics, and ninth in Computer Science in the world.

In the 2009 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report, Harvard was ranked first in North America.

In 2010, according to University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), Harvard is the best overall university in the world.

Research

Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Harvard Clinical Research Institute

Harvard Institute of Economic Research

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

Institute for Quantitative Social Science

Laboratory for Nanomedicine (at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital)

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies (one of Harvard's 14 schools)

Schepens Eye Research Institute

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

;Research centers attached to schools and departments Department of Psychology: Prosopagnosia Research Centers at Harvard University and University College London Graduate School of Design: Center for Alternative Futures, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Center for Technology & the Environment Harvard Law School: Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Institute for Global Law & Policy (former European Law Research Center), John M. Olin Center of Law, Economics and Business ;Independent organizations affiliated to the university

The Forsyth Institute

Libraries and museums

The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises over 80 individual libraries and over 15 million volumes. According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the United States, and the third largest library in the country. Harvard describes its library as the "largest academic library in the world".

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; 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.

Harvard operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums:

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Le Corbusier, is home to the University's film archive and the department of Visual and Environmental Studies.

The Harvard Art Museums, including:

* The Arthur M. Sackler Museum, which includes ancient, Asian, Islamic and later Indian art

* The Busch-Reisinger Museum, formerly the Germanic Museum, covers central and northern European art.

* The Fogg Museum of Art, with galleries featuring history of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present. Particular strengths are in Italian early Renaissance, British pre-Raphaelite, and 19th century French art

The Harvard Museum of Natural History complex, including:

* The Harvard Mineralogical Museum

* The Harvard University Herbaria, which contains the famous Blaschka Glass Flowers exhibit

* The Museum of Comparative Zoology

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, specializing in the cultural history and civilizations of the Western Hemisphere

The Semitic Museum.

Student activities

        In 2005, ''The Boston Globe'' reported obtaining a 21-page Harvard internal memorandum that expressed concern about undergraduate student satisfaction based on a 2002 Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) survey of 31 top universities.  The ''Globe'' presented COFHE survey results and quotes from Harvard students that suggest problems with faculty availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, social life on campus, and sense of community dating back to at least 1994.  The magazine section of the ''Harvard Crimson'' echoed similar academic and social criticisms.  ''The Harvard Crimson'' quoted Harvard College Dean Benedict Gross as being aware of and committed to improving the issues raised by the COFHE survey.

A longer list of Harvard student groups can be found under Harvard College.

''The Harvard Crimson'', founded in 1873, describes itself as "the nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper"; it counts among its many editors numerous Pulitzer Prize winners and two U.S. Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The Harvard University Band, founded in 1919, is a non-traditional, student-run marching band, notable for being a scramble band; other bands which also fall under the umbrella organization of HUB are The Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Harvard Summer Pops Band, and the Harvard Jazz Bands.

The Harvard International Relations Council includes several famous student organizations, including the ''Harvard International Review'' (''HIR''), Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), and its Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN).  The ''HIR'' has 35,000 readers in more than 70 countries and regularly features prominent scholars and policymakers from around the globe.  HMUN is the oldest high-school-level Model United Nations simulation in the world, having begun as a League of Nations simulation in the 1920s.  HNMUN is similarly the longest-running college-level simulation in the world and among the largest in the United States. The IRC has the most members of any Harvard student organization.

The ''Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor organization and publication founded in 1876.  It has a long-standing rivalry with ''The Crimson'' and counts among its former members Robert Benchley, John Updike, George Plimpton, Steve O'Donnell, Conan O'Brien, Mark O'Donnell, and Andy Borowitz.  This sporadically issued rag was originally modelled on the British magazine of satire, Punch, and has now outlived it, becoming the world's second-oldest humor magazine after the ''Yale Record''.  Conan O'Brien was president of the ''Lampoon'' during his last two undergraduate years.  (The ''National Lampoon'' was founded as an offshoot in 1970 from the Harvard publication.)

The Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1858, is the oldest college choir in the country; the Harvard University Choir is the oldest university-affiliated choir in the country; and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, founded in 1808, technically is older than the New York Philharmonic, though it has only been a symphony orchestra for about half of its existence.  The Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University is a chamber orchestra that is staffed, managed, and conducted entirely by students.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, founded in 1844, is a theatrical society known for its burlesque musicals and annual "Man of the Year" and "Woman of the Year" ceremonies; past members include Alan Jay Lerner, Jack Lemmon, and John Lithgow.  The ''Harvard Advocate'', founded in 1866, is the nation's oldest college literary magazine; its past members include Theodore Roosevelt, T. S. Eliot, and Mary Jo Salter.  The ''Harvard Salient '' is the campus's biweekly conservative magazine, whose past editors include many prominent conservative thinkers and journalists.

WHRB (95.3 FM Cambridge), the campus radio station, is run exclusively by Harvard students out of the basement of Pennypacker Hall, a freshman dorm.  Known throughout the Boston metropolitan area for its classical, jazz, underground rock and hip-hop, and blues programming, especially its reading period "orgies", when the entire oeuvre of a particular composer, orchestra, band, or artist is played without commercial break, sometimes for several days in succession, to give the station's DJs a chance to catch up on their studies before the semester's final exams.

The Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) is a living memorial to President Kennedy which promotes public service among undergraduates by sponsoring non-credit courses and workshops and internships in the public sector.  The IOP is also home to the Harvard Political Review, a nonpartisan quarterly magazine whose alumni include Al Gore, E.J. Dionne, and Jonathan Alter.  The IOP is located within the Harvard Kennedy School.

The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which serves as the umbrella organization for dozens of community service and social change programs at Harvard.  It has 1,600 volunteers who serve over 10,000 people in the greater Boston area.  Its notable alumni include Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roger Nash Baldwin, Robert Coles, and David Souter.

Harvard Student Agencies is the largest student-run corporation in the world, with revenues of $6 million in 2006; its notable alumni include Thomas Stemberg, founder of Staples, Inc. and Michael Cohrs, a Board Member at Deutsche Bank in London.  Harvard Model Congress is the nation's oldest and largest congressional simulation conference, providing thousands of high school students from across the U.S. and abroad with the opportunity to experience participatory American democracy first-hand.

The Harvard Ichthus is the college's first journal of Christian thought, inspiring the founding of over 20 such journals throughout the Northeast through the Augustine Project; it has featured contributions by students as well as notable theologians such as Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Stanley Hauerwas, Glen Stassen, and Fr. Richard Schall.  The Harvard Chess Club, founded in 1874, is one of the oldest collegiate chess clubs in the country.  An annual match versus Yale on the morning of the Harvard-Yale football game has taken place since 1906.  Harvard has won several intercollegiate national chess championships, with alumni including International Grandmaster and two-time United States Champion Patrick Wolff.

Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society is a cooperative bookstore that includes undergraduates on its board of directors.  The Harvard Boxing Club is a club sport open to all undergraduates and graduates.  It holds practices six days a week, and hosts an annual exhibition (Fight Night) at the end of Spring semester.  The Harvard Wireless Club, founded in 1909, is the nation's oldest amateur radio club.  Their radio station call sign is W1AF.  "Professor George W. Pierce was the first president, and Nikola Tesla, Thomas A. Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Greenleaf W. Pickard and R. A. Fessenden were honorary members."

Students

{| style="text-align:center; float:right; font-size:85%; margin-left:2em; margin:auto;" class="wikitable" |+ ''Demographics of student body'' ! !! Undergraduate !! Graduate !! Professional !! U.S. Census |- ! Black/Non-Hispanic | 8% || 3% || 6% || 12.1% |- ! Asian/Pacific Islander | 17% || 9% || 12% || 4.3% |- ! White/Non-Hispanic | 42% || 42% || 43% || 65.8% |- ! Hispanic | 7% || 3% || 5% || 14.5% |- ! Native American | 1% || 0.2% || 0.6% || 0.9% |- ! International Students | 11% || 33% || 22% || N/A |}

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

Undergraduate admission to Harvard is characterized by the Carnegie Foundation as "more selective, lower transfer-in". Harvard College received 27,462 applications for admission to the Class of 2013, 2,175 were admitted (7.9%), and 1,658 enrolled (76.2%). The interquartile range on the SAT was 2080–2370 and 95% of first year students graduated in the top tenth of their high school class. Harvard also enrolled 266 National Merit Scholars, the most in the nation. 88% of students graduate within 4 years and 98% graduate within 6 years.

Harvard College accepted 6.9% of applicants for the class of 2014, a record low for the school's entire history. The number of acceptances was lower for the class of 2013 partially because the university anticipated increased rates of enrollment after announcing a large increase in financial aid in 2008. 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. However, undergraduate admissions office's preference for children of alumni policies have been the subject of scrutiny and debate as it primarily aids whites and the wealthy.

Athletics

Harvard's athletic rivalry with Yale is intense in every sport in which they meet, coming to a climax each fall in their 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, the Father of Football, Walter Camp (former captain of the Yale football team), suggested widening the field to open up the game. But the state-of-the-art Harvard 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.

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 at all hours of the day, and an indoor cycling studio, three weight rooms, and a three-court gym floor to play basketball. The MAC also offers personal trainers and specialty classes. The MAC is also home to Harvard volleyball, fencing, and wrestling. The offices of several of the school's varsity coaches are also in the MAC.

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.

As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country. As with other Ivy League universities, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships.

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.

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.

''Harvard Undergraduate Television'' has footage from historical games and athletic events including the 2005 pep-rally before the Harvard-Yale Game. Harvard's official athletics website has more comprehensive information about Harvard's athletic facilities.

Song

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.

Notable people

Faculty and staff

Prominent conservative and prominent liberal voices are among the faculty of the various schools, such as Martin Feldstein, Harvey Mansfield, Greg Mankiw, Baroness Shirley Williams, and Alan Dershowitz. Leftists like Michael Walzer and Stephen Thernstrom and libertarians such as Robert Nozick have in the past graced its faculty. Between 1964 and 2009, a total of 38 faculty and staff members affiliated with Harvard or its teaching hospitals were awarded Nobel Prizes (17 during the last quarter century, 6 the last 25 years).

Alumni

Among the best-known people who have attended Harvard University are American political leaders John Hancock, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Al Gore, George W. Bush and Barack Obama; Canadian Governor General David Lloyd Johnston, Canadian Prime Ministers Mackenzie King and Pierre Trudeau, and Canadian political leader Michael Ignatieff; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan; religious leader, businessman & philanthropist Aga Khan IV; businessman & philanthropist Bill Gates; philanthropist Huntington Hartford; Mexican Presidents Felipe Calderón, Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Miguel de la Madrid; Chilean President Sebastian Piñera; Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos; Costa Rican President José María Figueres; Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo; Albanian Prime Minister Fan S. Noli; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; philosopher Henry David Thoreau; authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and William S. Burroughs; educator Harlan Hanson; poets Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings; conductor Leonard Bernstein; cellist Yo Yo Ma; comedian and television show host and writer Conan O'Brien; actors Jack Lemmon, Natalie Portman, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Tatyana Ali, Elisabeth Shue, Rashida Jones, Scottie Thompson, Hill Harper, Matt Damon and Tommy Lee Jones; film directors Darren Aronofsky, Mira Nair, Whit Stillman, and Terrence Malick; television executive Brian Graden; architect Philip Johnson; musicians Rivers Cuomo, Tom Morello, and Gram Parsons; musician, producer and composer Ryan Leslie; Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg; unabomber Ted Kaczynski; programmer and activist Richard Stallman; and civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois.

Among its most famous current faculty members are biologist E. O. Wilson, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, physicists Lisa Randall and Roy Glauber, chemists Elias Corey, Dudley R. Herschbach and George M. Whitesides, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt, writer Louis Menand, critic Helen Vendler, historian Niall Ferguson, economists Amartya Sen, N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert Barro, Stephen A. Marglin, Don M. Wilson III and Martin Feldstein, political philosophers Harvey Mansfield and Michael Sandel, political scientists Robert Putnam, Joseph Nye, and Stanley Hoffmann, scholar/composers Robert Levin and Bernard Rands.

Seventy-five Nobel Prize winners are affiliated with the university. Since 1974, 19 Nobel Prize winners and 15 winners of the American literary award, the Pulitzer Prize, have served on the Harvard faculty.

In fiction and popular culture

Harvard's central place in American elite circles has made it the setting for many novels, plays, films and other cultural works.

In literature

Numerous novels are set at Harvard or feature characters with Harvard connections.

;Books

''The Accidental Billionaires'' by Ben Mezrich is a narrative account of Facebook's founding set partially at Harvard

''Hacking Harvard'' is novel by Robin Wasserman, a Harvard University alumna.

In ''The Handmaid's Tale'', Margaret Atwood's post-apocalyptic novel, much of the action takes place in Cambridge, with vaguely recognizable Harvard landmarks occasionally making their way into the narrator's place descriptions.

''Love Story'' (1970), by Harvard alumnus (and Yale classics professor) Erich Segal, concerns a romance between a wealthy Harvard pre-law hockey player (Ryan O'Neal) and a brilliant Radcliffe student of musicology on scholarship (Ali MacGraw). Both novel and movie are deeply infused with Cambridge color. One enduring Harvard tradition in recent years has been the annual screening of ''Love Story'' to incoming freshmen, during which members of the Crimson Key Society, the tour-giving organization on campus, make catcalls and other offerings of mock abuse. Other works of Erich Segal, ''The Class'' (1985) and ''Doctors'' (1988) also featured the leading characters as Harvard students.

''The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane'', a 2009 bestselling novel by Katherine Howe, prominently features the university and several of its buildings .

''Prozac Nation'' is an autobiography by Harvard College graduate, Elizabeth Wurtzel.

''The Second Happiest Day'' (1953) by "John Phillips" (John P. Marquand, Jr.) depicts the Harvard of the generation of World War II.

''The Sound and the Fury'', by William Faulkner, features Quentin Compson's experiences at Harvard.

''Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose'' (1948), by Dr. Seuss, remarks on "Harvard Club Wall".

''The Women's Room'', by Marilyn French, largely features protgonist Mira's experiences at Harvard University

;Series In Dan Brown's novels (''The Da Vinci Code'' and ''Angels and Demons''), main character Robert Langdon is described as a Harvard "professor of symbology", (although "symbology" is not the name of an actual academic discipline).

Pamela Thomas-Graham's series of mystery novels (''Blue Blood'', ''Orange Crushed'', and ''A Darker Shade Of Crimson''), protagonist Nikki Chase is an African-American Harvard economics professor.

Douglas Preston's ex-CIA agent, Wyman Ford, is a Harvard alumnus. Ford appears in the novels ''Tyrannosaur Canyon'' and ''Blasphemy''.

Cecilia Tan's romance novel series, commonly known as the "Magic University series" and including the books ''The Siren and the Sword'' and ''The Tower and the Tears'', is set at the magical university hidden inside Harvard known as "Veritas".

In music

Mariah Carey, in her 2009 song "Up Out My Face", sings: "Even the Harvard University graduating class of 2010 couldn't put us back together again."

Onscreen

Harvard has been featured in many U.S. film and television productions. Since the filming of ''Love Story'' in the 1960s the university, until the summer of 2007 filming of ''The Great Debaters'', did not allow any movies to be filmed in campus buildings; most films are shot in look-alike cities, such as Toronto, and at colleges such as UCLA, Wheaton, and Bridgewater State, although outdoor and aerial shots of Harvard's Cambridge campus are often used.

''21'' (2008 film) - filming took place, in part, at Harvard Medical School

Ally McBeal, of the eponymous series, is a Harvard Law School alumna

''Cheers'' and ''Frasier'' co-star, Dr. Frasier Crane, is a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Medical School

''The Firm'' (1993 film) - features Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) as a young man with a promising future in law who, about to graduate from Harvard Law School, is made an offer he can't refuse by Memphis firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke, 'The Firm'

''Fringe'' (TV series) - the university was prominently featured in the 2008 television series pilot. Although ''Fringe'' portrays its setting as Harvard, the visible campus buildings are at Yale University.

''Gilligan's Island'' 's resident aristocrat Thurston Howell, III (played by Jim Backus), is a Harvard graduate

''Gilmore Girls''

''Good Will Hunting''

''Gossip Girl'' (TV series) - the university was prominently featured in the second series.

''Harvard Man''

''Heaven's Gate'' The film opens with the main characters graduating from the college in 1870.

''How High''

''Ivory Tower'' - a student-produced Harvard Undergraduate Television show about fictional Harvard students.

''Legally Blonde''

''Love Story in Harvard'' - a Korean hit TV series set at Harvard but filmed at the University of Southern California

''M*A*S*H'''s pompous Boston Brahmin, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III (played by David Ogden Stiers), is a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Medical School)

''Matlock'' principal character, Ben Matlock, is a Harvard Law School graduate

''The Paper Chase''

''Queer as Folk'' (North American TV series)

''Sex and the City'' character, Miranda Hobbes, is a Harvard Law School graduate

''The Social Network''

''Soul Man'' (film)

''Stealing Harvard''

''Sugar & Spice''

''The Suite Life on Deck'' (Disney Channel show) - In Season 1, Cody Martin hopes to get into Harvard

''With Honors'' (film) - The graduation scene was filmed in front of Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Other

Professors Dr. Richard Alpert, later known as Ram Dass, and Dr. Timothy Leary were fired from Harvard in May 1963. Popular opinion attributes their discharge to their activism involving psychedelics, and the popularization and dispensation of psilocybin to students.

See also

Academic dress of Harvard University

Harvard University Police Department

Secret Court of 1920

References

Further reading

Abelmann, Walter H., ed. ''The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology: The First 25 Years, 1970–1995'' (2004). 346 pp.

Beecher, Henry K. and Altschule, Mark D. ''Medicine at Harvard: The First 300 Years'' (1977). 569 pp.

Bentinck-Smith, William, ed. ''The Harvard Book: Selections from Three Centuries'' (2d ed.1982). 499 pp.

Bethell, John T.; Hunt, Richard M.; and Shenton, Robert. ''Harvard A to Z'' (2004). 396 pp. excerpt and text search

Bethell, John T. ''Harvard Observed: An Illustrated History of the University in the Twentieth Century'', Harvard University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-674-37733-8

Bunting, Bainbridge. ''Harvard: An Architectural History'' (1985). 350 pp.

Carpenter, Kenneth E. ''The First 350 Years of the Harvard University Library: Description of an Exhibition'' (1986). 216 pp.

Cuno, James et al. ''Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting'' (1996). 364 pp.

Elliott, Clark A. and Rossiter, Margaret W., eds. ''Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives'' (1992). 380 pp.

Hall, Max. ''Harvard University Press: A History'' (1986). 257 pp.

Hay, Ida. ''Science in the Pleasure Ground: A History of the Arnold Arboretum'' (1995). 349 pp.

Hoerr, John, ''We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard;'' Temple University Press, 1997, ISBN 1-56639-535-6

Howells, Dorothy Elia. ''A Century to Celebrate: Radcliffe College, 1879–1979'' (1978). 152 pp.

Keller, Morton, and Phyllis Keller. ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University'' (2001), major history covers 1933 to 2002 online edition

Lewis, Harry R. ''Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education'' (2006) ISBN 1586483935

Morison, Samuel Eliot. ''Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636–1936'' (1986) 512pp; excerpt and text search

Powell, Arthur G. ''The Uncertain Profession: Harvard and the Search for Educational Authority'' (1980). 341 pp.

Reid, Robert. ''Year One: An Intimate Look inside Harvard Business School'' (1994). 331 pp.

Rosovsky, Nitza. ''The Jewish Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe'' (1986). 108 pp.

Seligman, Joel. ''The High Citadel: The Influence of Harvard Law School'' (1978). 262 pp.

Sollors, Werner; Titcomb, Caldwell; and Underwood, Thomas A., eds. ''Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe'' (1993). 548 pp.

Trumpbour, John, ed., ''How Harvard Rules. Reason in the Service of Empire'', Boston: South End Press, 1989, ISBN 0-89608-283-0

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, ed. ''Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History'' (2004). 337 pp.

Winsor, Mary P. ''Reading the Shape of Nature: Comparative Zoology at the Agassiz Museum'' (1991). 324 pp.

Wright, Conrad Edick. ''Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence'' (2005). 298 pp.

External links

Harvard mobile site

Category:1636 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies Category:Association of American Universities Category:Colonial Colleges Category:Educational institutions established in the 1630s Category:Ivy League Category:National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities members Category:New England Association of Schools and Colleges Category:Universities and colleges in Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:Universities and colleges in Massachusetts

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name	Bill Gates
birth date	October 28, 1955
birth place	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
birth name	William Henry Gates III
occupation	Chairman of MicrosoftChairman of CorbisCo-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationDirector of Berkshire HathawayCEO of Cascade Investment
years active	1975–present
nationality	American
net worth	US$56 billion (2011)
religion	Agnostic
spouse
children	3
residence	Medina, Washington, U.S.
alma mater	Harvard University (Dropout)
website	Bill Gates
signature	BillGates Signature.svg
parents	William H. Gates, Sr.Mary Maxwell Gates }}

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with more than 8 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

Early life

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates, Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates, of English, German, and Scotch-Irish descent. His family was upper middle class; his father was a prominent lawyer, his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way, and her father, J. W. Maxwell, was a national bank president. Gates has one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or "Trey" because his father had the "II" suffix. Early on in his life, Gates' parents had a law career in mind for him. When Gates was young, his family regularly attended a Congregational church.

At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school. When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy an Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's students. Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly. When he reflected back on that moment, he said, "There was just something neat about the machine." After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC), which banned four Lakeside students—Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans—for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.

At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for computer time. Rather than use the system via Teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs in FORTRAN, LISP, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the four Lakeside students to write a payroll program in COBOL, providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators became aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's computer program to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in classes with mostly female students. He later stated that "it was hard to tear myself away from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate success." At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. In early 1973, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who later succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft.

In his sophomore year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems presented in a combinatorics class by Harry Lewis, one of his professors. Gates' solution held the record as the fastest version for over thirty years; its successor is faster by only one percent. His solution was later formalized in a published paper in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.

Gates did not have a definite study plan while a student at Harvard and spent a lot of time using the school's computers. Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, joining him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974. The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company. He had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how much Gates wanted to start a company.

Microsoft

BASIC

After reading the January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics'' that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS, and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their partnership "Micro-Soft" and had their first office located in Albuquerque. Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

Microsoft's BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter saying that MITS could not continue to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software without payment. This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems. The company moved from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.

During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, Gates personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit.

IBM partnership

In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft to write the BASIC interpreter for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC. When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system. IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC-DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000. Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system. They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry.

Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board.

Windows

Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, and in August, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, mounting creative differences undermined the partnership. Gates distributed an internal memo on May 16, 1991, announcing that the OS/2 partnership was over and Microsoft would shift its efforts to the Windows NT kernel development.

Management style

From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. He aggressively broadened the company's range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant position he vigorously defended it. He gained a reputation for being distant to others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls."

As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. Firsthand accounts of these meetings describe him as verbally combative, berating managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk. He often interrupted presentations with such comments as, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" and, "Why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?" The target of his outburst then had to defend the proposal in detail until, hopefully, Gates was fully convinced. When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend."

Gates' role at Microsoft for most of its history was primarily a management and executive role. However, he was an active software developer in the early years, particularly on the company's programming language products. He has not officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100, but wrote code as late as 1989 that shipped in the company's products. On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his day-to-day role over the next two years to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two successors, placing Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.

Antitrust litigation

Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices have had Gates' approval. In the 1998 ''United States v. Microsoft'' case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual meaning of words like "compete", "concerned" and "we". ''BusinessWeek'' reported:

}}

Gates later said he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. As to his demeanor during the deposition, he said, "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty. Whatever that penalty is should be levied against me: rudeness to Boies in the first degree." Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization and tying, and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Appearance in ads

Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft in 2008. The first commercial, co-starring Jerry Seinfeld, is a 90-second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up on a discount shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes inside. The salesman is trying to sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big. As Gates is buying the shoes, he holds up his discount card, which uses a slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New Mexico in 1977 for a traffic violation. As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld asks Gates if he has melded his mind to other developers, after getting a yes, he then asks if they are working on a way to make computers edible, again getting a yes. Some say that this is an homage to Seinfeld's own show about "nothing" (''Seinfeld''). In a second commercial in the series, Gates and Seinfeld are at the home of an average family trying to fit in with normal people.

Post-Microsoft

Since leaving Microsoft, Gates continues his philanthropy and, among other projects, purchased the video rights to the Messenger Lectures series called ''The Character of Physical Law'', given at Cornell University by Richard Feynman in 1964 and recorded by the BBC. The videos are available online to the public at Microsoft's Project Tuva.

In April 2010, Gates was invited to visit and speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he asked the students to take on the hard problems of the world in their futures.

Personal life

Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994. They have three children: daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates (born 1996), son Rory John Gates (born 1999), and daughter Phoebe Adele Gates (born 2002). The Gates's home is an earth-sheltered house in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina. According to King County public records, as of 2006 the total assessed value of the property (land and house) is $125 million, and the annual property tax is $991,000.

His estate has a swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a gym and a dining room.

Also among Gates' private acquisitions is the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci, which Gates bought for $30.8 million at an auction in 1994. Gates is also known as an avid reader, and the ceiling of his large home library is engraved with a quotation from ''The Great Gatsby''. He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis, and golf.

Gates was number one on the Forbes 400 list from 1993 through to 2007 and number one on ''Forbes'' list of The World's Richest People from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. In 1999, Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him a "centibillionaire". Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multi-billion dollar donations he has made to his charitable foundations. In a May 2006 interview, Gates commented that he wished that he were not the richest man in the world because he disliked the attention it brought. Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of $616,667 and $350,000 bonus totalling $966,667. He founded Corbis, a digital imaging company, in 1989. In 2004 he became a director of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett. In March 2010 Bill Gates was bumped down to the second wealthiest man behind Carlos Slim.

Philanthropy

Gates began to appreciate the expectations others had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world. The foundation allows benefactors access to information regarding how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust. The generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller has been credited as a major influence. Gates and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and modeled their giving in part on the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus, namely those global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations. As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over $28 billion to charity.

The foundation was at the same time criticized because it invests assets that it has not yet distributed with the exclusive goal of maximizing return on investment. As a result, its investments include companies that have been charged with worsening poverty in the same developing countries where the Foundation is attempting to relieve poverty. These include companies that pollute heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing world. In response to press criticism, the foundation announced in 2007 a review of its investments, to assess social responsibility. It subsequently canceled the review and stood by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.

Gates's wife urged people to learn a lesson from the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, which had sold its home and given away half of its value, as detailed in ''The Power of Half''. Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO) signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time.

Recognition

In 1987, Gates was officially declared a billionaire in the pages of Forbes' 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth $1.25 billion, over $900 million more than he'd been worth the year before, when he'd debuted on the list.

''Time'' magazine named Gates one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006. ''Time'' also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time". Gates was listed in the ''Sunday Times'' power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by ''Chief Executive Officers magazine'' in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by ''Time'' in 1998, ranked number two in the ''Upside'' Elite 100 in 1999 and was included in ''The Guardian'' as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001.

In 1994, he was honoured as the twentieth Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. Gates has received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands, in 2000; the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in April 2007; Harvard University in June 2007; the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, in January 2008, and Cambridge University in June 2009. He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007. Gates was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, in addition to having entomologists name the Bill Gates flower fly, ''Eristalis gatesi'', in his honor.

In November 2006, he and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "''Un país de lectores"''. In October 2009, it was announced that Gates will be awarded the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership of The Franklin Institute for his achievements in business and for his philanthropic work. In 2010 he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth.

Investments

Cascade Investments LLC, a private investment and holding company, incorporated in United States, is controlled by Bill Gates, and is headquartered in the city of Kirkland, Washington.

bgC3, a new think-tank company founded by Bill Gates.

Corbis, a digital image licensing and rights services company.

TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company.

Bibliography

Gates has authored two books:

''The Road Ahead'' (1995)

''Business @ the Speed of Thought'' (1999)

Filmography

Gates has appeared in at least one film: ''Waiting For Superman''

See also

List of billionaires (also see List of college dropout billionaires and List of wealthiest non-inflated historical figures)

Paul Allen – Microsoft's co-founder, friend, and fellow billionaire

Books

References

Further reading

"The Meaning of Bill Gates: As his reign at Microsoft comes to an end, so does the era he dominated", ''The Economist'', June 28, 2008.

External links

The Gates Notes ''official site''

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Profile at Microsoft

Profile at Forbes

How I Work: Bill Gates, ''Fortune'', March 30, 2006

Category:1955 births Category:American billionaires Category:American computer businesspeople Category:American chief executives Category:American computer programmers Category:American philanthropists Category:American technology writers Category:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation people Category:Businesspeople in software Category:Harvard University people Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Category:Microsoft employees Category:History of Microsoft Category:National Medal of Technology recipients Category:Living people Category:People from Seattle, Washington Category:People from King County, Washington Category:Windows people Category:Fellows of the British Computer Society Category:American people of Scottish descent

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name	Amy Poehler
birthname	Amy Meredith Poehler
birth date	September 16, 1971
birth place	Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
occupation	Actress, voice actress, comedienne, writer, producer
yearsactive	1977–present
spouse	Will Arnett (2003-present; 2 children)
website	}}

Amy Meredith Poehler (born September 16, 1971) is an American comedienne, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film ''Mean Girls'' with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in ''Baby Mama'' in 2008. She is currently the lead of NBC's comedy ''Parks and Recreation''. She has been nominated twice for both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on ''Saturday Night Live'', and for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in ''Parks & Recreation''.

Early life

Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of Eileen Frances (née Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler, both teachers. She is a distant cousin of author Stephen King and U.S. senator Scott Brown, through shared New England ancestry. Poehler was raised Catholic.

A 1993 graduate of Boston College, Poehler was a member of America's oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe, "My Mother's Fleabag". After graduating from college, Poehler moved to Chicago, where she studied improvisational theatre at Second City, with friend and future co-star Tina Fey. She also studied with Del Close at ImprovOlympic, going on to become part of the touring company as well as teaching classes at IO.

Career

''Upright Citizens Brigade''

During her time at Second City, Poehler studied with Matt Besser, part of the Upright Citizens Brigade. While the group initially consisted of many members (including Horatio Sanz, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Neil Flynn), Poehler quickly became part of the group along with Matt Walsh. The two, along with Besser and Ian Roberts, performed sketch and improv around Chicago before moving to New York in 1996. Immediately after moving to New York, the group quickly scored a TV gig, appearing as sketch regulars on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''.

In 1998, Comedy Central debuted the group's eponymous half-hour sketch comedy series. During the show's second season, the group opened an Improv theatre and training center in New York City at 161 W. 22nd Street, occupying the space of a former strip club. The UCB theatre held shows seven nights a week in addition to offering classes in sketch comedy writing and improv.

In the summer of 2000, Comedy Central canceled the ''Upright Citizens Brigade'' program after its third season, though the UCB Theatre continues to operate. The foursome continue to work together in many projects, and frequently perform together in live improv shows at their comedy theatres in NY and LA.

''Saturday Night Live''

Poehler joined the cast of ''SNL'' during the 2001–02 season, her debut episode being the first one produced after the 9/11 attacks – with host Reese Witherspoon, musical guest Alicia Keys, and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a special guest. Poehler was promoted from featured player to full cast member in her first season on the show, making her only the third person to have earned this distinction (after Harry Shearer and Eddie Murphy).

Beginning with the 2004–05 season, she co-anchored "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey, replacing the newly departed Jimmy Fallon. In a ''TV Guide'' interview, Fey said that with Poehler co-anchoring, there now is "double the sexual tension." When Fey left after the 2005–06 season to devote time to the sitcom she created, ''30 Rock'', Seth Meyers joined Poehler at the anchor desk. Poehler was nominated for a 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series, the first ''SNL'' cast member recognized in this category. She was heavily favored to win by many critics, but ultimately lost to Jean Smart. She was nominated once again in 2009, but lost to Kristin Chenoweth. On September 13, 2008, the ''SNL'' season premiere opened with Fey and Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, respectively, performing a "joint political campaign spot."

It was officially announced on September 16, 2008 that Poehler would be leaving ''SNL'' in October due to the birth of her child. On the October 25, 2008 episode, it was announced by "Weekend Update" co-anchor Seth Meyers, who anchored the segment alone, "Amy Poehler is not here because she is having a baby", to wild applause from the audience. At the end of "Weekend Update", special guest Maya Rudolph and current cast member Kenan Thompson sang a custom rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for Poehler, changing the words: "We love you Amy, and we just can't wait to meet your baby!" Meyers signed off: "For Weekend Update, I'm Seth Meyers — we love you Amy!" Poehler returned to the show on November 3, 2008, during the "''SNL'' Presidential Bash '08", "hosting" as Hillary Clinton. The Bash was pre-taped from scenes shot between September and October. Her return to ''SNL'' after her pregnancy was on December 6, 2008, where she stayed for two weeks. During "Weekend Update", on December 13, she thanked her family, friends, and fans for the continued support and announced that it would be her last show. On April 18, 2009, a ''Saturday Night Live'' special, "The Best of Amy Poehler", aired. Poehler returned for "Weekend Update" (signing off with "...and he's Seth Meyers") and joined the "chorus" for Will Ferrell's "Goodnight Saigon" (along with the ''SNL'' cast and Tom Hanks, Maya Rudolph, Norm Macdonald, Artie Lange, Anne Hathaway, and Green Day) on the ''SNL'' season finale on May 16, 2009.

Poehler returned to the "Weekend Update" desk in the fall of 2009 with Meyers, for two "WU" Thursday episodes, which led directly into ''Parks and Recreation''. Poehler also returned to ''Saturday Night Live'' for a special Mother's Day episode on May 8, 2010, hosted by Betty White.

Poehler returned to ''Saturday Night Live'' on September 25, 2010 to host the Season 36 opening episode with performer Katy Perry. She returned once again for the ''Saturday Night Live'' special, "The Women of ''SNL''". The special aired on November 1, 2010.

''Parks and Recreation''

In July 2008, ''Variety'' reported that Poehler was in final negotiations to star in a series by writers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, set to air on Thursdays before ''The Office'', starting January 2009 on NBC. On July 21, 2008, NBC officially announced Poehler's new series, ''Parks and Recreation'', saying the project would not be a direct spin-off of ''The Office'', as previously speculated.

Poehler joined an ensemble cast including Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Paul Schneider, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, and Rob Lowe. Poehler plays Deputy Director of the Parks Department, Leslie Knope, in the fictional city of Pawnee, Indiana. After a rough first season, the show's second season and third season have been well received by critics, and Poehler received an Emmy nomination for her role. NBC has since renewed ''Parks and Recreation'' for a fourth season. Poehler was featured in ''The Advocate'' for her role in the show.

Amy Poehler has also written two episodes of the series. The first being ''Telethon'' in season 2, which was the episode Poehler sent in as her Emmy Awards submission in 2010. The second one is the episode entitled ''The Fight'', which aired on May 12, 2011.

Poehler was once again nominated for an Emmy Award - Oustanding Actress in a Comedy in 2011. She sent the episode ''Flu Season'' as her submission.

Film career and other work

Poehler has appeared in the films ''Wet Hot American Summer'', ''Mean Girls'', ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'', ''Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny'', ''Blades of Glory'', ''Envy'', ''Shrek the Third'', ''Mr. Woodcock'', and ''Hamlet 2''. She is producing a digital series with two of her friends, Meredith Walker and Amy Miles, ''Smart Girls at the Party'', available through ON Networks. The show is focused on interviews with young women who are "changing the world by being themselves". The first season of 'Smart Girls at the Party' premiered online November 17, 2008, with Mattel's Barbie signed on as the lead sponsor.

She appeared in various comedy segments on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', often playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's little sister Stacy, and as a recurring character in two episodes of the college dramedy ''Undeclared''. She appears in the film ''Southland Tales'', which premiered on May 21, 2006 at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, she appeared in ''Horton Hears a Who!'', ''Hamlet 2'', ''Baby Mama'', and ''Spring Breakdown''. She has also co-created an animated series for Nickelodeon called ''The Mighty B!'', about Bessie Higgenbottom, a "sweet, merit-badge-obsessed girl scout", to which she lends her vocal talents. In 2009, Poehler earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Series.

In 2011 Poehler received the honor of being named one of TIME magazine's "100 most influential people in the world". She also delivered the Class Day address to Harvard University's class of 2011.

Personal life

Poehler married Will Arnett of the Fox comedy ''Arrested Development'' on August 29, 2003, and had a recurring role in the series as the nameless wife of Arnett's character George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II. Poehler and Arnett also played a quasi-incestuous brother-sister ice skating team in the 2007 film ''Blades of Glory'', and appeared together in ''Horton Hears a Who!'', ''On Broadway'', ''Spring Breakdown'', and ''Monsters vs. Aliens'', along with Arnett having a guest appearance on Poehler's NBC comedy ''Parks and Recreation''. On October 25, 2008, Poehler gave birth to Archibald William Emerson "Archie" Arnett, just hours before the ''Saturday Night Live'' telecast. Poehler gave birth to her second son, Abel James Arnett, on August 6, 2010. Politically, she is a supporter of Planned Parenthood, but she has also stated that John McCain was the ''Saturday Night Live'' guest she fell in love with.

Filmography

1996–2000 ''Upright Citizens Brigade'' ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'' ''Saturday Night Live'' ''Wet Hot American Summer'' Undeclared ''Martin & Orloff'' ''Mean Girls'' ''Arrested Development (TV series) ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' ''Southland Tales'' ''The Ex (2007 film) ''Hamlet 2'' ''The Mighty B!'' ''Spring Breakdown'' ''Parks and Recreation'' ''Megamind''

Year	! Film and TV	! Role	! Notes
	|	''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''	Stacy (Andy's little sister)/ Various sketch roles	Regular
1998–2000	|	Colby/ Various characters	Main Role
1999	|	Ruth
2001–2008	|	Herself/ Various characters	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series>Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2008 and 2009) 138 shows as cast member.
2001	|	Susie
2001–02	|	Hillary
	2002	|	Patty
rowspan="2"	2004	|	Mrs. George
''Envy (2004 film)	Envy''	Natalie Vanderpark
2004–05	Arrested Development ||	List of recurring Arrested Development characters#Wife of Gob>Wife of Gob	Recurring, 5 episodes
rowspan="3"	2005	|	Gramma (voice)	"Have You Seen This Snail?"
''The Simpsons''	Jenda (voice)
''Sesame Street''	Herself
rowspan="3"	2006	|	Veronica Mung / Dream
''Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny''	Truck Stop Waitress
''Man of the Year (2006 film)	Man of the Year''	Herself
rowspan="6"	2007	The Ex'' ||	Carol Lane
''Blades of Glory''	Fairchild Van Waldenberg
''Shrek the Third''	Snow White (Shrek)>Snow White
''Mr. Woodcock''	Maggie Hoffman
''Shortcut to Happiness''	Molly Gilchrest
''Wild Girls Gone''	Doreen
rowspan="3"	2008	|	Cricket Feldstein
''Horton Hears a Who	(film)	Horton Hears a Who!''	Sally O'Malley	Voice
''Baby Mama (film)	Baby Mama''	Angie Ostrowski
2008–2011	|	Bessie Higgenbottom (voice)	Nominated – Daytime Emmy>Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program (2009 and 2010)
rowspan="3"	2009	|	Gayle
''Monsters vs. Aliens''
''Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel''	Eleanor
2009–present	|	Leslie Knope	Nominated – Emmy Award>Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2010, 2011)
2010	|	Linda Prickles	Voice
rowspan="2"	2011	Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil'' >
''Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked''	Eleanor

Notable characters on ''SNL''

Amber, a one-legged hypoglycemic reality show contestant.

Betty Caruso, Bronx Beat co-host (opposite Maya Rudolph).

Kaitlin, the excitable preteen titular character of Kaitlin and Rick (opposite Horatio Sanz).

Netti Bo Dance, a frequent patient at the Appalachian Emergency Room.

Sally Needler, half of The Needlers, "the couple that should be divorced" (opposite Seth Meyers).

Zoe Anderton, the pun loving, David Beckham-obsessed Spy Glass co-host (opposite Seth Meyers).

Impressions

Poehler has impersonated Dakota Fanning, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Sharon Osbourne, Britney Spears, Paula Abdul, Rosie O'Donnell, Kelly Ripa, Ann Coulter, Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Sharon Stone, Nancy Grace, Michael Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, Christian Siriano, Peter Ostrum, David Spade, Mr. Six, Tonya Harding, Dennis Kucinich, Fergie, Judy Garland, J. K. Rowling, Kim Jong-il, Jenna Bush, Katie Couric, Tinker Bell, and Rosie Perez.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2006	Prism Award	Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series	''Saturday Night Live''
2008	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	''Saturday Night Live''
	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program	''The Mighty B!''
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	''Saturday Night Live''
		''Baby Mama''
	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program	''The Mighty B!''
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''Parks and Recreation''
People's Choice Award	Favorite TV Comedy Actress	''Parks and Recreation''
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Actress in a Comedy Series	''Parks and Recreation''
TCA Awards	Individual Achievement in Comedy	''Parks and Recreation''
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''Parks and Recreation''
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	''Parks and Recreation''

References

External links

in 2009 in 2009

Amy Poehler named one of ''Men's Vogue's'' 2008 Visionaries

TODAY talent are on People magazine annual list of 100, led by Applegate

Category:1971 births Category:Actors from Massachusetts Category:American film actors Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:American television actors Category:American television writers Category:American voice actors Category:Boston College alumni Category:ImprovOlympics Category:Late Night with Conan O'Brien Category:Living people Category:People from Newton, Massachusetts Category:Second City alumni Category:Women comedians Category:Women television writers Category:People from Burlington, Massachusetts

da:Amy Poehler de:Amy Poehler es:Amy Poehler fr:Amy Poehler hr:Amy Poehler id:Amy Poehler it:Amy Poehler he:איימי פולר nl:Amy Poehler ja:エイミー・ポーラー pl:Amy Poehler pt:Amy Poehler ru:Поулер, Эми sq:Amy Poehler fi:Amy Poehler sv:Amy Poehler tl:Amy Poehler

Nigahiga is a YouTube channel created by Japanese-American Ryan Higa. Since relocating to Las Vegas to study filmmaking at UNLV, Higa's videos are either solo efforts or videos with other people such as KevJumba. They are known for their YouTube comedy videos, which have been viewed over 930 million times. As of August 2011, Higa's YouTube channel, nigahiga, has over 4.3 million subscribers, and is the second most subscribed YouTube channel of all time, surpassed only by RayWilliamJohnson.

Content

Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi started posting YouTube videos of themselves lip-synching to songs in mid 2006 while attending Waiakea High School. They quickly expanded beyond songs, with a variety of other comedic pieces. Occasional guest appearances are made by Tim Enos, Ryan Villaruel, Kyle Chun, and Tarynn Nago, collectively known as the "Yabo Crew".

On Christmas Eve of 2008, Higa and Fujiyoshi's two most popular videos, ''How To Be Gangster'' and ''How To Be Emo'', were removed due to copyright violations. On January 21, 2009, nigahiga's account was temporarily suspended and he was told to remove more copyrighted videos. Because of this, nigahiga's lip synching videos were all removed (with the exception of ''You're Beautiful'', which was audio swapped), and so were most of his videos that include copyrighted music. As of now, all the music that is being played in nigahiga's videos is music Higa composed himself. ''How to be Gangster'' and ''How to be Emo'' were put back on nigahiga's channel in late August 2009, only to be removed a few days later, along with ''How to be Ninja'' and ''How to be Nerd''. In spring 2010, ''How to be Ninja'', ''How to be Gangster'' and ''How to be Emo'' were made public once more. He created a second channel recently, where he posts video blogs and behind the scenes movies. His second account is under the name of "HigaTV".

Films

In 2008, Los Angeles producer Richard Van Vleet offered to help them create their first feature-length film. The resulting film, ''Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure'', was directed by Richard Van Vleet and released on November 14, 2008. It was shown in sold out theaters in Hawaii and California. The DVD was released on July 14, 2009 in the USA.

''Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure'' is about a down on his luck movie producer, played by Michael Buckley, who is seeking out famous celebrities in order to make a hit movie in 30 days or risk being fired. He chooses Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi after discovering the popularity of their YouTube videos. He invites them to Hollywood to make a movie. They accept the offer, and run into some amusing situations on the way.

''Ninja Melk'', a 26 minute short film about ninjas, was released in August 2009. The plot revolves around a ninja master named Master Ching Ching sending his student Lapchung (played by Bryson Murata) to find a replacement, finding Ryan and Sean to catch the evil Bokchoy (played by Tim Enos) and his henchwoman, Gina (played by Tarynn Nago).

A new independent 35 minute film he created with Wong Fu Productions called "Agents of Secret Stuff" was uploaded on Ryan's channel on November 24, 2010. It features some other popular YouTube users as well as actors such as Aki Aleong. "Agents of Secret Stuff" is about a teenage A.S.S. (Agent of Secret Stuff) (Higa) who is sent undercover to a high school to protect one of the students, a girl named Taylor (Arden Cho) from the A.S.S.'s enemy, the S.I.N.S (Society Involving Not-So-Good Stuff). It included guest appearances from Ian and Anthony of Smosh, KassemG and Hiimrawn.

Ryan Higa's and Sean Fujiyoshi's YouTube channel, nigahiga, was created on July 20, 2006. By December 21, 2010, it had reached 3,000,000 subscribers, the first channel to do so. By August 2011, their videos had been viewed over 930 million times.

Music

Ryan has released four comedic singles onto YouTube and iTunes along with Kevjumba, JRaquino, Chester See and David Choi. They are called "Shed a Tear", "I'm Hardcore", "Like a Good Boy" and "Nice Guys". Nice Guys reached the top of the iTunes charts in the comedy category. He also parodied Justin Bieber's hit single "Never Say Never" in a video called "Daily Life of Rustin Hieber," a music video in which he sings "Sometimes Say Never." In an "Off The Pill" he made a parody of Rebecca Black's "Friday", though it is seven seconds long. He was also featured in Adam Zhou's guitar video on youtube.

Videography

;Advertisement spoofs

''The iPod Human''

''The ShamWOOHOO!''

''ChildrensBop!''

''The Portobello Mushroom Burger''

''The Big Bouncing Inflatable Green Ball!''

''Hook on Fonik''

''I broke my Nexus One!''

''The Snuggo''

''The iNavigator''

''TEEHEE Band''

;Dear Ryan

''Dear Ryan - Defeating a Ninja''

''Dear Ryan - Superhero''

''Dear Ryan - Makeup Guru''

''Dear Ryan - Basketball-Tubing Weather Lamp''

''Dear Ryan - Are you a liar?''

''Dear Ryan - Extreme''

;"How to be" series

''How to be Ninja''

''How to be Gangster''

''How to be Emo''

''How to be Nerd'' (private)

''How to be UFC Fighter'' (private)

''How to be at the Premiere''

''How to be a YouTube Celebrity''

;Lip-synced songs

''You're Beautiful'' (audio swapped, replaced with Bring Me To Life)

''Circle Circle Dot Dot'' (private)

''I'm a Gangster'' (private)

''Wannabe'' (private)

''Fergalicious'' (private)

''Savin' Me'' (private)

''My Heart Will Go On'' (private)

''Destiny's Angels'' (private)

''Milk and Cereal'' (private)

''Numa Numa'' (private)

''Irreplaceable'' (private)

''London Bridges'' (private)

''Barbie Girl'' (private)

''I Love Them Hoes'' (private)

''Promiscuous'' (private)

''I Just Want You To Know'' (private)

''Sukiyaki'' (private)

;Movies in Minutes series

''Movies In Minutes - Titanic''

''Movies In Minutes - The Grudge''

''Movies In Minutes - Twilight''

''Movies In Minutes - Harry Potter''

''Movies In Minutes - X-Men Origins: Wolverine''

''Movies In Minutes - Transformers: Revenge of the Household Objects''

''Movies In Minutes - Saw 12''

''Movies In Minutes - New Moon'' (Twilight: New Moon)

''Movies In Minutes - Facebook the Movie''

''Movies In Minutes - Final Destination''

;Nigahiga songs

''Asian Boy - Yank Dat Cameltoe''

''Sorry Fans, Blame My ADD'' (Sorry, Blame it on Me)

''So Damn Stupid!'' (YAHHH!)

''Asian Boy - I Miss You Soulja Boy'' (Better in Time)

''The Ninja Glare'' (In the Ayer)

''Tweet Whore''

''I'm a Chingstah!'' (I'm a Gangster)

''Like a Good Boy'' (Like A G6)

''Shed a Tear'' (Rocketeer) (featuring Chester See and KevJumba)

''I'm Hardcore'' (featuring David Choi and JR Aquino)

''Nice Guys'' (featuring Chester See and KevJumba)

;Best Crew

''Best Dance Crew'' (Ft Victor Kim Quest Crew)

''BEST CREW vs POREOTICS''

''BEST CREW -The Audition'' (Ft Pacman and Moon from I.aM.mE)

;Ninja Melk

''Ninja Melk Preview''

''Ninja Melk Trailer''

''Ninja Melk''

;Off the Pill

''Off The Pill - Stink People''

''Off The Pill - Farts''

''Off The Pill - Nosy People''

''Off The Pill - 2009''

''Off The Pill - BIEBER FEVER''

''Off The Pill - Weird People''

''Off The Pill - Rebecca Black (Friday)''

''Off The Pill - Arrogant People''

''Off the Pill - Feminist''

;Rants

''Ranting about Music'' (private)

''Rant on Liars'' (private)

''Rant on Comments'' (private)

''Rant on Nosy People'' (private)

''Rant on Stink People'' (private)

''Rant on ADD'' (private)

''Violence'' (private)

''Rant on Asian Dramas''

''Rant on Music (Remade)''

;Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure

''The Super Secret!''

''Ryan and Sean's NSEA''

;Skitzo

''Skitzo - Introductions''

''Skitzo - The Halloween Story''

''Skitzo - The PSA''

''Skitzo - Valentine's Day''

''Skitzo - Despicable Me''

''Skitzo - Reunited''

;TV Program Spoofs

''Mind Geek'' (Mind Freak) (private)

''House''

''Dude vs. Wild – The Desert'' (Man vs. Wild)

;The Ryan Higa Show

''The Ryan Higa Show: Helga Fawntinilla'' (private)

''The Ryan Higa Show: Milo Ventimiglia''

;Word of the Day

''Word of the Day – Pwned''

''Word of the Day – Bromance'' (featuring Jay Park)

;Agents of Secret Stuff

''NEW NIGAHIGA MOVIE (TEASER)''

''Agents of Secret Stuff Trailer (Official)''

''Agents of Secret Stuff''

;Million Subscribers Celebrations

''1,000,000 Subscribers''

''2,000,000 Subscribers!''

''3,000,000 Subscribers!''

''4,000,000 Subscribers!''

;Fundraisers

''Honk For Japan''

;Daily Life of

''Daily Life of Rustin Hieber''

''Daily Life of NinjaHinja''

;HigaTV

''Australia Trip''

''Freedumb''

''Nice Guys (BEHIND THE SCENES)''

''Tag Your Green!''

''Canada Trip''

''4 Guys 1 Car'' (Original) (removed)

''4 Guys 1 Car'' (Remade)

''Vidcon and ISA''

''Marley and Me''

;Other

''Adjusting the Sails'' (private)

''The Number 21'' (private)

''Beautiful Girls [Ghetto Style]'' (private)

''Munky Tag'' (private)

''The Stalking Mangina Preview''

''Subliminal Messaging'' (private)

''Hilo Puppets''

''Romantic Valentines Day Story''

''Vote for REVO''

''A Message to All Haters''

''Sean Returns!''

''YouTube Live – WTH is a VLog''

''Thanksgving Campaign'' (removed)

''Copyrighted''

''Nigahiga Tee-Shirts'' (private)

''Why Chris Brown Beat Rihanna''

''Will Ferrell Calling me out?'' (private)

''I wanna play a game'' (private)

''braces?!'' (private)

''Things I Like'' (private)

''REVO'' (private)

''sponsored'' (private)

''5 Nigahiga facts'' (private)

''Asians Wrestle'' (private)

''FedUp''

''Royal Wedding Reaction Video''

''The Announcement''

''Clubs Sicken Me!''

References

Television

Supah Ninjas

External links

Official Site www.HigaTV.com

Official homepage of ''Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure''

Category:Living people Category:American Internet personalities Category:American people of Japanese descent Category:1990 births Category:Internet memes

da:Nigahiga eo:Nigahiga fr:Nigahiga ja:ライアン・ヒガ fi:Nigahiga sv:Nigahiga zh:NigaHiga

name	J. K. Rowling
birth name	Joanne Rowling
birth date	July 31, 1965
birth place	Yate, Gloucestershire, England
nationality	British
education	Bachelor of Arts
alma mater	University of Exeter
occupation	Novelist
genre	Children's literature
subject	Wizards
notableworks	''Harry Potter'' series
influences	Harry Potter influences and analogues
spouse	Jorge Arantes (m. 1992–95)Neil Murray (m. 2001–present)
children	2 daughters, 1 son
website	http://www.jkrowling.com }}

Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE (born 31 July 1965), better known as J. K. Rowling ( ), is a British author best known as the creator of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The ''Potter'' books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and been the basis for a popular series of films, in which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.

Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years. As of March 2011, when its latest world billionaires list was published, ''Forbes'' estimated Rowling's net worth to be US$1 billion. The 2008 ''Sunday Times Rich List'' estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom. ''Forbes'' ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007, and ''Time'' magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, J. K. Rowling was named 'Most Influential Woman in Britain' by leading magazine editors. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and Lumos (formerly the Children's High Level Group).

Name

Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling", pronounced like ''rolling'' (), her name when her first ''Harry Potter'' book was published was simply "Joanne Rowling". Fearing that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose ''K'' as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself "Jo" and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name ''Joanne Murray'' when conducting personal business.

Background

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French, half-Scottish. Her mother's grandfather, a Dr Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her sister Dianne (Di) was born at their home on 28 June 1967 when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the ''Harry Potter'' headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind", gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, ''Hons and Rebels.'' Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother, Anne, had worked as a technician in the Science Department. Rowling has said of her adolescence, "Hermione [A bookish, know-it-all ''Harry Potter'' character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. "Ron Weasley [Harry Potter's best friend] isn't a living portrait of Sean, but he really is very Sean-ish." Of her musical tastes of the time, she said "My favourite group in the world is The Smiths. And when I was going through a punky phase, it was The Clash." Rowling read for a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, which she says was a "bit of a shock" as she "was expecting to be amongst lots of similar people– thinking radical thoughts." Once she made friends with "some like-minded people" she says she began to enjoy herself. After a year of study in Paris, Rowling moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International.

In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. She told ''The Boston Globe'' that "I really don't know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head." When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.

However, in December of that year, Rowling's mother died, after her ten-year battle with multiple sclerosis. Rowling commented, "I was writing ''Harry Potter'' at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about ''Harry Potter''." Rowling said this death heavily affected her writing and that she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, because she knew about how it felt.

Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, on 16 October 1992, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes. Their child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford), was born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal. They separated in November 1993. In December 1993, Rowling and her daughter moved to be near Rowling's sister in Edinburgh, Scotland. During this period Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression, and contemplated suicide. It was the feeling of her illness which brought her the idea of Dementors, soul-sucking creatures introduced in the third book.

Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as "the biggest failure I knew." Her marriage had failed, she was jobless with a dependent child, but she described her failure as liberating:

In order to teach in Scotland she would need a postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE), requiring a full-time, year-long course of study. She began this course in August 1995, after completing her first novel while having survived on state welfare support. She wrote in many cafés, especially Nicolson's Café, wherever she could get Jessica to fall asleep. In a 2001 BBC interview, Rowling denied the rumour that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, remarking, "I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating." Instead, as she stated on the American TV programme ''A&E; Biography'', one of the reasons she wrote in cafés was because taking her baby out for a walk was the best way to make her fall asleep.

''Harry Potter''

''Harry Potter'' books

In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evens, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small publishing house in London. The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books. Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for $105,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published ''Philosopher's Stone'' with an initial print-run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and later, the Children's Book Award. Its sequel, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', was published in July 1998 and again Rowling won the Smarties Prize. In October 1998, Scholastic published ''Philosopher's Stone'' in the US under the title of ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'': a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.

In December 1999, the third novel, ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth ''Harry Potter'' novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of ''Beowulf''.

The fourth book, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. Some 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' sold during its first year. In the US, the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, smashing all literary sales records. Rowling admitted that she had had a moment of crisis while writing the novel; "Halfway through writing Four, I realised there was a serious fault with the plot ... I've had some of my blackest moments with this book ... One chapter I rewrote 13 times, though no-one who has read it can spot which one or know the pain it caused me." Rowling was named author of the year in the 2000 British Book Awards.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of ''Goblet of Fire'' and the fifth ''Harry Potter'' novel, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling had developed writer's block, speculations she fervently denied. Rowling later admitted that writing the book was a chore. "I think Phoenix could have been shorter", she told Lev Grossman, "I knew that, and I ran out of time and energy toward the end."

The sixth book, ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release. While writing, she told a fan online, "Book six has been planned for years, but before I started writing seriously I spend two months re-visiting the plan and making absolutely sure I knew what I was doing." She noted on her website that the opening chapter of book six, which features a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, had been intended as the first chapter first for ''Philosopher's Stone'', then ''Chamber of Secrets'' then ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. In 2006, ''Half-Blood Prince'' received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final ''Harry Potter'' book was revealed 21 December 2006 to be ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''. In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007. ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' was released on 21 July 2007 (0:01 BST) and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the entire series. During a year period when Rowling was completing the last book, she allowed herself to be filmed for a documentary which aired in Britain on ITV on 30 December 2007. It was entitled ''J K Rowling... A Year In The Life'' and showed her returning to her old Edinburgh tenement flat where she lived, and completed the first ''Harry Potter'' book. Re-visiting the flat for the first time reduced her to tears, saying it was "really where I turned my life around completely."

''Harry Potter'' is now a global brand worth an estimated £7 billion ($15 billion), and the last four ''Harry Potter'' books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The ''Harry Potter'' books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although the series' overall impact on children's reading habits has been questioned.

''Harry Potter'' films

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. A film adaptation of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was released on 16 November 2001, and ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' on 15 November 2002. Both films were directed by Chris Columbus. 4 June 2004 saw the release of the film version of ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', was directed by another new director, Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005. The film of ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves. ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script. In March 2008, Warner Bros. announced that the final instalment of the series, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', would be filmed in two segments, with part one being released in November 2010 and part two being released in July 2011. Yates would again return to direct both films.

Warner Bros took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts when drafting her contract. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has been adhered to strictly. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.

The first four, sixth and seventh films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She has said that she told him more about the later books than anybody else (prior to their release), but not everything. She has also said that she told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) asked her if Harry died at any point in the series; Rowling answered him by saying, "You have a death scene", thereby not explicitly answering the question. Director Steven Spielberg was approached to helm the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated that she has no say in who directs the films and would not have vetoed Spielberg if she had. Rowling's first choice for the director had been Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, as she is a fan of his work. However, Warner Bros. wanted a more family friendly film and eventually they chose Chris Columbus, who was set to direct all seven entries in the series. Columbus declined to direct the succeeding films to the second adaptation as he claimed he was "burned out". This led to directors Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and David Yates to join the series. Cuarón and Newell helmed one film each, while Yates directed the final four entries, becoming the only person to have guided more than one ''Harry Potter'' film since Columbus.

Rowling had gained creative control on the films, approving all the scripts as well as acting as a producer on the final two-part instalment, ''Deathly Hallows''.

On her website, Rowling revealed that she was considered to have a cameo in the first film as Lily Potter in the Mirror of Erised scene. Rowling, however, turned down the role, stating that she was not cut out to be an actor and, "would have messed it up somehow". The role ultimately went to Geraldine Somerville.

Rowling, producers David Heyman and David Barron, along with directors David Yates, Mike Newell and Alfonso Cuarón collected the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in honour of the ''Harry Potter'' film franchise.

Life after ''Harry Potter''

''Forbes'' has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar billionaire by writing books, the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world. When first listed as a billionaire by ''Forbes'' in 2004, Rowling disputed the calculations and said she had plenty of money, but was not a billionaire. In addition, the 2008 ''Sunday Times Rich List'' named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain. In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a £4.5 million ($9 million) Georgian house in Kensington, West London, on a street with 24-hour security.

On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971), an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her Aberfeldy home. This was a second marriage for both Rowling and Murray, as Murray had previously been married to Dr. Fiona Duncan in 1996. Murray and Duncan separated in 1999 and divorced in the summer of 2001. Rowling's and Murray's son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on 24 March 2003. Shortly after Rowling began writing ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. Rowling's youngest child, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', was born 23 January 2005.

Rowling is a close friend of Sarah Brown, wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whom she met when they collaborated on a charitable project (see below). When Brown's son Fraser was born in 2003, Rowling was one of the first to visit her in the hospital.

Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen and Harvard University, for whom she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony. In 2009 Rowling was awarded the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She revealed publicly, during the Elysée Palace ceremony, that her maternal great-grandfather was French and had also received the Légion d'honneur for his bravery at the First World War battle of Verdun. She has since found out, during the filming of Who Do You Think You Are ?, that the Louis Volant who won the Légion d'honneur was unrelated. However, the Louis Volant who was her great-grandfather had been awarded the Croix de guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte.

Subsequent writing

Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing. In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling claimed that she would much prefer to write any subsequent books under a pseudonym; however, she conceded to Jeremy Paxman in 2003 that if she did, the press would probably "find out in seconds." In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had finished writing a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than ''Harry Potter'' readers.

As regards the possibility of an eighth ''Harry Potter'' book, she has said, "I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years' time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely." However, on 1 October 2010, Rowling had an interview with Oprah Winfrey, stating a new book on the saga might happen.

Rowling has said she will be writing an encyclopaedia of ''Harry Potter'''s wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity. During a news conference at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2007, Rowling, when asked how the encyclopaedia was coming along, said, "It's not coming along, and I haven't started writing it. I never said it was the next thing I'd do." As of the end of 2007, Rowling has said that the encyclopaedia could take up to ten years to complete, stating "There is no point in doing it unless it is amazing. The last thing I want to do is to rush something out".

In July 2007, Rowling said that she wants to dedicate "lots" of her time to her family, but is currently "sort of writing two things", one for children and the other for adults. She did not give any details about the two projects but did state that she was excited because the two book situation reminded her of writing the ''Philosopher's Stone'', explaining how she was then writing two books until Harry took over. She stated in October 2007 that her future work was unlikely to be in the fantasy genre, explaining, "I think probably I've done my fantasy ... it would be incredibly difficult to go out and create another world that didn't in some way overlap with Harry's or maybe borrow a little too much from Harry." In November 2007, Rowling said that she was working on another book, a "half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish." In March 2008, Rowling confirmed that her "political fairy tale" for children was nearing completion.

In March 2008, Rowling revealed in interview that she had returned to writing in Edinburgh cafés, intent on composing a new novel for children. "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy," she told ''The Daily Telegraph''. "I am very good at finding a suitable café; I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don't sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me."

In June 2011, Rowling announced that future ''Harry Potter'' projects, and all electronic downloads, would be concentrated in a new website, called Pottermore. The site includes 18,000 words of additional information on characters, places and objects in the ''Harry Potter'' universe. The following month, she parted company with her agent, Christopher Little, moving to a new agency founded by one of his staff, Neil Blair.

Relationship with the press

Rowling has had a difficult relationship with the press. She admits to being "thin-skinned" and dislikes the fickle nature of reporting. "They went in one day from saying, 'She's got writer's block' to saying, 'She's been self-indulgent'", she told ''The Times'' in 2003, "And I thought, well, what a difference 24 hours makes." However, Rowling disputes her reputation as a recluse who hates to be interviewed. In 2001, the Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint by Rowling over a series of unauthorised photographs of her with her daughter on the beach in Mauritius published in ''OK! Magazine''. In 2007, Rowling's young son, David, assisted by Rowling and her husband, lost a court fight to ban publication of a photograph of him. The photo, taken by a photographer using a long-range lens, was subsequently published in a ''Sunday Express'' article featuring Rowling's family life and motherhood. However, the judgment was overturned in David's favour in May 2008.

Rowling has said she particularly dislikes the British tabloid the ''Daily Mail'', which made references to a stalker Rowling insists does not exist, and conducted interviews with her estranged ex-husband. As one journalist noted, "Harry's Uncle Vernon is a grotesque philistine of violent tendencies and remarkably little brain. It is not difficult to guess which newspaper Rowling gives him to read [in ''Goblet of Fire'']."

Some have speculated that Rowling's fraught relationship with the press was the inspiration behind the character Rita Skeeter, a gossipy celebrity journalist who first appears in ''Goblet of Fire''. However, Rowling noted in 2000 that the character actually predates her rise to fame: "People have asked me whether Rita Skeeter was invented [to reflect ''Harry Potter'''s popularity], but in fact she was always planned." "I tried to put Rita in ''Philosopher's Stone'' – you know when Harry walks into the Leaky Cauldron for the first time and everyone says, "Mr. Potter you're back!", I wanted to put a journalist in there. She wasn't called Rita then but she was a woman. And then I thought, as I looked at the plot overall, I thought, that's not really where she fits best, she fits best in Four when Harry's supposed to come to terms with his fame."

Philanthropy

In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research. Rowling said, "I think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently."

Anti-poverty

Rowling, once a single parent herself, is now president of the charity One Parent Families, having already become their first Ambassador in 2000. Rowling collaborated with Sarah Brown to write a book of children's stories to aid One Parent Families.

In 2001, the UK anti-poverty fundraiser Comic Relief asked three best-selling British authors – cookery writer and TV presenter Delia Smith, ''Bridget Jones'' creator Helen Fielding, and Rowling – to submit booklets related to their most famous works for publication. Rowling's two booklets, ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' and ''Quidditch Through the Ages'', are ostensibly facsimiles of books found in the Hogwarts library. Since going on sale in March 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million ($30 million) for the fund. The £10.8 million ($20 million) they have raised outside the UK have been channelled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis.

In 2005, Rowling and MEP Emma Nicholson founded the Children's High Level Group (now Lumos). In January 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to highlight the use of caged beds in mental institutions for children. To further support the CHLG, Rowling auctioned one of seven handwritten and illustrated copies of ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'', a series of fairy tales referred to in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''. The book was purchased for £1.95 million by on-line bookseller Amazon.com on 13 December 2007, becoming the most expensive modern book ever sold at auction. Rowling commented, "This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help. It means Christmas has come early to me." Rowling gave away the remaining six copies to those who have a close connection with the ''Harry Potter'' books. In 2008, Rowling agreed to publish the book with the proceeds going to the Children's High Level Group.

Multiple sclerosis

Rowling has contributed money and support for research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother suffered before her death in 1990. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University and in 2010 she donated a further £10 million to the centre. For reasons unknown, Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world. In 2003, Rowling took part in a campaign to establish a national standard of care for MS sufferers. In April 2009, she announced that she was withdrawing her support for Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, citing her inability to resolve an ongoing feud between the organisation's northern and southern branches that had sapped morale and led to several resignations.

Other philanthropic work

In May 2008, bookseller Waterstones asked Rowling and 12 other writers (Sebastian Faulks, Doris Lessing, Lisa Appignanesi, Margaret Atwood, Lauren Child, Richard Ford, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Michael Rosen, Axel Scheffler, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh) to compose a short piece of their own choosing on a single A5 card, which would then be sold at auction in aid of the charities Dyslexia Action and English PEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-word Harry Potter prequel that concerns Harry's father, James Potter, and godfather, Sirius Black, and takes place three years before Harry was born. The cards were collected together and sold for charity in book form in August 2008.

On 1 and 2 August 2006 she read alongside Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the Haven Foundation, a charity that aids artists and performers left uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières. In May 2007, Rowling gave $495,000 to a reward fund of over $4.5 million for the safe return of a young British girl, Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal. Rowling, along with Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, and Alan Greenspan, wrote an introduction to a collection of Gordon Brown's speeches, the proceeds of which are donated to the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory.

Rowling is a supporter of The Shannon Trust, which runs the Toe by Toe Reading Plan and the Shannon Reading Plan in prisons across Britain, which helps and gives tutoring to prisoners who cannot read.

Political views

In September 2008, on the eve of the Labour Party Conference, Rowling announced that she had donated £1 million to the Labour Party, and publicly endorsed Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown over Tory challenger David Cameron, saying in a statement:

I believe that poor and vulnerable families will fare much better under the Labour Party than they would under a Cameron-led Conservative Party. Gordon Brown has consistently prioritised and introduced measures that will save as many children as possible from a life lacking in opportunity or choice. The Labour government has reversed the long-term trend in child poverty, and is one of the leading EU countries in combating child poverty. David Cameron's promise of tax perks for the married, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the Conservative government I experienced as a lone parent. It sends the message that the Conservatives still believe a childless, dual-income, but married couple is more deserving of a financial pat on the head than those struggling, as I once was, to keep their families afloat in difficult times.

Rowling commented on her political views when she discussed the 2008 United States presidential election with the Spanish-language newspaper ''El País''. She said she is obsessed with the United States elections because they will have a profound effect on the rest of the world. In February 2008, she said that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would be "extraordinary" in the White House. In the same interview, she also said her hero was Robert F. Kennedy.

In April 2010, Rowling published an article in ''The Times'' in which she heavily criticised Cameron's plan to encourage married couples to stay together by offering them a £150 annual tax credit.

Nobody who has ever experienced the reality of poverty could say "it's not the money, it's the message". When your flat has been broken into, and you cannot afford a locksmith, it is the money. When you are two pence short of a tin of baked beans, and your child is hungry, it is the money. When you find yourself contemplating shoplifting to get nappies, it is the money. If Mr Cameron's only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is "get married, and we'll give you £150", he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation. How many prospective husbands did I ever meet, when I was the single mother of a baby, unable to work, stuck inside my flat, night after night, with barely enough money for life's necessities? Should I have proposed to the youth who broke in through my kitchen window at 3 am? Half a billion pounds, to send a message – would it not be more cost-effective, more personal, to send all the lower-income married people flowers?

Religious views

Over the years, many religious people have decried Rowling's books for supposedly promoting witchcraft. However, Rowling identifies herself as a Christian. She attended a Church of Scotland congregation while writing ''Harry Potter'' and her eldest daughter, Jessica, was baptised there. "I go to church myself", she says, "I don't take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion". She once said, "I believe in God, not magic." Early on she felt that if readers knew of her Christian beliefs, they would be able to "guess what is coming in the books."

In 2007, Rowling described her religious background in an interview with the Dutch newspaper the ''Volkskrant'':

Rowling has occasionally expressed ambivalence about her religious faith. In a 2006 interview with ''Tatler'' magazine, Rowling noted that, "like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes about if my faith will return. It's important to me." In a British documentary, ''JK Rowling: A Year in the Life'', when asked if she believed in God, she said, "Yes. I do struggle with it; I couldn't pretend that I'm not doubt-ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them but I would say yes." When asked if she believed in an afterlife, she said, "Yes; I think I do." She further said, "It's something that I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think that's very obvious within the books." In a 2008 interview with the Spanish newspaper ''El Pais'', Rowling said, "I feel very drawn to religion, but at the same time I feel a lot of uncertainty. I live in a state of spiritual flux. I believe in the permanence of the soul." In an interview with the ''Today Show'' in July 2007, she said, "...until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on... would give away a lot of what was coming. So... yes, my belief and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book."

Legal disputes

Rowling, her publishers, and Time Warner, the owner of the rights to the Harry Potter films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyright. The worldwide popularity of the ''Harry Potter'' series has led to the appearance of a number of locally produced, unauthorised sequels and other derivative works, sparking efforts to ban or contain them.

Another area of legal dispute involves a series of injunctions obtained by Rowling and her publishers to prohibit anyone from reading her books before their official release date. The injunction drew fire from civil liberties and free speech campaigners and sparked debates over the "right to read".

Awards and honours

1997: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''

1998: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''

1998: British Children's Book of the Year, winner ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''

1999: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''

1999: British Children's Book of the Year, winner ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''

1999: Whitbread Children's Book of the Year, winner ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''

2000: British Book Awards, Author of the Year.

2000: Order of the British Empire, Officer.

2001: Hugo Award for Best Novel, winner ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''

2003: Premio Príncipe de Asturias, Concord.

2003: Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, winner ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''

2006: British Book of the Year, winner for ''Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince''

2007: Blue Peter Badge, Gold.

2008: British Book Awards, Outstanding Achievement.

2009: Légion d'honneur, presented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

2010: Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, inaugural award winner.

2011: British Academy Film Awards, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema for the ''Harry Potter'' film series, shared with David Heyman, cast and crew.

Honorary degrees: St Andrews University, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, University of Exeter, Harvard University

Publications

''Harry Potter'' series

# ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (26 June 1997) # ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' (2 July 1998) # ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' (8 July 1999) # ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (8 July 2000) # ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' (21 June 2003) # ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' (16 July 2005) # ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' (21 July 2007)

Other books

''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (supplement to the ''Harry Potter'' series) (2001)

''Quidditch Through the Ages'' (supplement to the ''Harry Potter'' series) (2001)

''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'' (supplement to the ''Harry Potter'' series) (2008)

Short story

''Harry Potter prequel'' (July 2008)

Articles

Anelli, Melissa (2008). Foreword to ''Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon''. Pocket Books.

Brown, Gordon (2006). Introduction to "Ending Child Poverty" in ''Moving Britain Forward. Selected Speeches 1997–2006''. Bloomsbury.

McNeil, Gil and Sarah Brown, editors (2002). Foreword to the anthology ''Magic''. Bloomsbury.

Rowling, J.K. (2008, June 5). "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination". ''Harvard Magazine''.

Rowling, J.K. (2009, April 30). "Gordon Brown – The 2009 Time 100". ''Time Magazine''.

Rowling, J.K. (2010, April 14). "The Single Mother's Manifesto". ''The Times''.

Sussman, Peter Y., editor (2006, July 26). "The First It Girl: J.K. Rowling reviews ''Decca: the Letters of Jessica Mitford''. ''The Daily Telegraph''.

References

External links

The first It Girl: Rowling's article on Jessica Mitford for ''The Telegraph''

Rowling's foreword to the anthology ''Magic''

Video, audio and transcript of Rowling's speech at Harvard University's 2008 commencement.

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:British billionaires Category:British Book Award winners Category:British Christians Category:British expatriates in Portugal Category:Christian writers Category:Christian Socialists Category:Civil Parish of Winterbourne Category:Democratic socialists Category:English as a Second Language teachers Category:English children's writers Category:English Christians Category:English educators Category:English fantasy writers Category:English film producers Category:English novelists Category:English philanthropists Category:English people of French descent Category:English women writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Female billionaires Category:Female authors who wrote under male or gender-neutral pseudonyms Category:Hugo Award winning authors Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People associated with Edinburgh Category:People associated with Perth and Kinross Category:People from South Gloucestershire (district) Category:Real people associated with the Harry Potter books Category:Women novelists Category:Women science fiction and fantasy writers Category:Writers of young adult literature Category:21st-century novelists Category:21st-century women writers

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