Hotchkiss students traveled to prestigious libraries over the summer to conduct research in English, history, and math as part of the MacLeish, Hersey, and brand new Euclid to Einstein Scholars Programs.

Read more about their experiences and projects in student-created newsletters below.

Next year, Hotchkiss will launch new programs in art history at Princeton and environmental science at Yale.

Hotchkiss Launches Euclid to Einstein Scholars Program at Cornell

Flip Through the Newsletter Below

The Euclid to Einstein Scholars Program launched this summer as an opportunity for Hotchkiss students to study the history of math, science, and technology. The inaugural program took place at Cornell University in June through a unique partnership with Cornell’s world-class math library and math Department.

Twelve upper-mid students conducted research into math- and science-related topics. They selected a mathematician or a physicist whose life and work they admired and investigated their ground-breaking contributions and how these contributions are positioned in the overall development of mathematics and physics. Students worked closely with math librarians while at Cornell to find sources for their research and learn about the work of the person they had picked.

As part of the program, during their senior year, students will take an honors course to study the history of mathematics and physics. Using their Cornell research as a starting point, they will complete their final project of the program—a scientific biography of the person they had selected.

According to Alex Ginzburg, E2E program director and instructor in mathematics, students enjoyed every aspect of this summer program and were genuinely challenged by its content. “After much planning beforehand, we found ourselves on the beautiful campus in Ithaca, ready to do our work. We knew that Cornell libraries were outstanding. But as our work progressed, we began to realize just how spectacular Cornell libraries actually are,” said Ginzburg.

Minnie Lee ’26 was intrigued by François Viète, a mathematician known as the father of symbolic algebra. “One of his most fascinating contributions was that he introduced symbolic notation, using consonants for knowns and vowels for unknowns”, said Minnie, who visited the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections at Cornell, which had two volumes of Viète’s original Opera Mathematica!

Dwyer Illick ’26 chose to study Albert Einstein. “I’ve always heard about Einstein’s amazing scientific breakthroughs, and I wanted to spend some time getting a more solid understanding of his theories and life."

While at Cornell, students also participated in additional math classes that introduced many important topics needed for the history course (Taylor Series expansion, "re-inventing" Complex numbers, the famous Euler's formula, ordinary and partial differential equations, Calculus of variations, etc.).

MacLeish Program Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

Flip Through the Newsletter Below

The MacLeish Scholars Program is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Archibald MacLeish, Class of 1911. MacLeish graduated from Yale and authored more than 50 works of poetry, nonfiction, and drama.

The program affords students the chance to undertake archival research on a literary subject, complete a substantial creative writing project, and practice classical forms of papermaking, bookbinding, and letterpress printing. The program takes place over two weeks each June at Yale's Beinecke Library. The summer program is followed by a year-long Honors course in which students build their summer research into a substantial senior thesis.

"Somehow, MacLeish is five years old," wrote Jeff Blevins, Ph.D., director of academic research programs and instructor in English. "Since 2021, the program has introduced 50 young minds to the joys and challenges of literary archival research. These students have collectively spent 2,000 hours working in library special collections and produced almost 1,500 pages of literary analysis. They have also crafted 50 unique artist’s books containing hundreds of pages of creative writing. They have lived at four different host universities and worked in 12 separate archives—before finding their permanent home at Yale’s Beinecke Library."

Hersey Marks Four Years, Expands to Four Libraries

Flip Through the Newsletter Below

The Hersey Scholars Program is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, cultural critic, and historical novelist John Hersey, Class of 1932. Hersey graduated from Yale and went on to write some of his era's most piercing accounts of historical and contemporary events, as well as a wide range of historical novels.

The program, how in its fourth year, gives selected students the opportunity to conduct archival research with a focus on history, politics, cultural studies, economics, and/or philosophy. Taking place over the course of two weeks each June, the program supports rising seniors’ research projects at four different archives in Boston: the Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Harvard’s Schlesinger and Houghton libraries. The summer program is followed by a year-long Honors course in which students build their summer research into a substantial senior thesis.

"These Scholars are talented students who already know how to write, but this program provides them access to archives, training in research, and support in writing that offer an opportunity to reach the next level in their skills. It is my joy as a teacher to help them get there," said Thomas Fisher, director of the Hersey Scholars Program and instructor in history, philosophy, and religion.