William Rainey Harper’s Index
Ryerson at 34
Year of the first Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture: 1974
(Speaker: John Hope Franklin, “The Historian and Public Policy”)
Date of this year’s lecture: May 14
(Law Professor Martha Nussbaum)
Nobel Laureate lecturers: 4
(Gary Becker, AM’53, PhD’55, 1989; Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 1975; James Cronin, SM’53, PhD’55, 1990; George Stigler, PhD’38, 1983)
Shortest title: 16 letters
(“Casanova’s Lottery,” Steven M. Stigler, 2003)
Longest title: 78 letters
(“Scents and Sensibility: Pheromones, Social Dynamics, and the Control of Fertility and Disease,” Martha K. McClintock, 2001)
Lectures with Shakespeare in title: 2
(“Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven: Patterns of Creativity,” Chandrasekhar, and “Shakespeare Faces Retirement,” David Bevington, 1999)
Lectures with a virus in title: 1
(“Herpes Simplex Viruses: Our Lifetime Unwanted Guests and a String of Pearls,” Bernard Roizman, 1998.)
Seats in I-House’s Assembly Hall, the Ryerson Lecture’s 2008 home:
360 (main floor) and 142 (balcony)