Email Harry Lewis
Harry Lewis's Homepage
Harry Lewis entered Harvard College in the fall of 1964. Having made no great progress despite his efforts in mathematics, physics, drama, and lacrosse, he stumbled upon computer programming through a part-time job, and fell in love with the emerging field. Lewis’s undergraduate thesis, written under the direction of computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland, was on handwriting recognition, parsing handwritten mathematical notation, and their use in experimental mathematics. Lewis graduated from Harvard in 1968, summa cum laude in Applied Mathematics.
During the Vietnam War, Harry Lewis served for two years as a commissioned officer of the US Public Health Service. He served at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, doing work on image processing and on systems and application programming. He spent the academic year 1970-71 in Europe as Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellow of Harvard University. Lewis returned to Harvard to begin his graduate study in the fall of 1971 and was awarded the PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1974. His PhD thesis was written under the direction of philosophy professor Burton Dreben, on the subject of computational unsolvability in mathematical logic.
Lewis joined the Harvard faculty in the fall of 1974, and became Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in 1981. In 2003 he was honored with the title of Harvard College Professor in honor of his teaching excellence.
Lewis is the author of five books and numerous articles on various aspects of computer science. Over his more than thirty years of teaching he has helped launch thousands of Harvard undergraduates into careers in computer science. His book about higher education, Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future? has appeared in a paperback edition (PublicAffairs, 2007). The hardcover edition was a Boston Globe best-seller and the subject of favorable reviews in both the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal. It has been translated into Chinese (in both Taiwanese and mainland editions) and Korean. A book on the origins and public consequences of the digital information flood, coauthored with Hal Abelson and Ken Ledeen, will appear in 2008 (Blown to Bits: Peril and Promise of the Digital Explosion, Prentice Hall).
From 1995-2003 Lewis served as Dean of Harvard College. In this capacity he oversaw the undergraduate experience, including residential life, career services, public service, academic and personal advising, athletic policy, and intercultural and race relations. He is a long time member of the College’s Admissions Committee.
Lewis has been married since 1968 to Marlyn McGrath. They live in Brookline, Massachusetts and Bigfork, Montana and have two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. Lewis is a graduate and a Trustee of the Roxbury Latin School, the oldest school in continuous existence in North America (founded 1645). When he is not worrying about the state of American education or the unforeseen consequences of digital technology, he worries instead about the Red Sox.
Harry Lewis entered Harvard College in the fall of 1964. Having made no great progress despite his efforts in mathematics, physics, drama, and lacrosse, he stumbled upon computer programming through a part-time job, and fell in love with the emerging field. Lewis’s undergraduate thesis, written under the direction of computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland, was on handwriting recognition, parsing handwritten mathematical notation, and their use in experimental mathematics. Lewis graduated from Harvard in 1968, summa cum laude in Applied Mathematics.
During the Vietnam War, Harry Lewis served for two years as a commissioned officer of the US Public Health Service. He served at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, doing work on image processing and on systems and application programming. He spent the academic year 1970-71 in Europe as Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellow of Harvard University. Lewis returned to Harvard to begin his graduate study in the fall of 1971 and was awarded the PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1974. His PhD thesis was written under the direction of philosophy professor Burton Dreben, on the subject of computational unsolvability in mathematical logic.
Lewis joined the Harvard faculty in the fall of 1974, and became Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in 1981. In 2003 he was honored with the title of Harvard College Professor in honor of his teaching excellence.
Lewis is the author of five books and numerous articles on various aspects of computer science. Over his more than thirty years of teaching he has helped launch thousands of Harvard undergraduates into careers in computer science. His book about higher education, Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future? has appeared in a paperback edition (PublicAffairs, 2007). The hardcover edition was a Boston Globe best-seller and the subject of favorable reviews in both the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal. It has been translated into Chinese (in both Taiwanese and mainland editions) and Korean. A book on the origins and public consequences of the digital information flood, coauthored with Hal Abelson and Ken Ledeen, will appear in 2008 (Blown to Bits: Peril and Promise of the Digital Explosion, Prentice Hall).
From 1995-2003 Lewis served as Dean of Harvard College. In this capacity he oversaw the undergraduate experience, including residential life, career services, public service, academic and personal advising, athletic policy, and intercultural and race relations. He is a long time member of the College’s Admissions Committee.
Lewis has been married since 1968 to Marlyn McGrath. They live in Brookline, Massachusetts and Bigfork, Montana and have two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. Lewis is a graduate and a Trustee of the Roxbury Latin School, the oldest school in continuous existence in North America (founded 1645). When he is not worrying about the state of American education or the unforeseen consequences of digital technology, he worries instead about the Red Sox.
Last updated February 19, 2008