Essays by William

A drawing of the night sky from when I was five years old. This page was part of a "book" I wrote (and tried to sell on the side of the road) about the solar system.           This morning, I submitted my first-ever “first author” paper to The Astronomical Journal . Our paper was the culmination of almost two years’ work, including over a dozen 100-hour weeks throughout the last two summers. With mentorship and critique from dozens of collaborators across the US, Europe, China, Taiwan and Australia, I was able to live out the ultimate dream of my life: adding a drop of my own to our knowledge of the cosmos. At the same time, my research was made possible through financial support – from Harvard and the federal government – which has supported my living and research expenses. This afternoon I discovered that Harvard will cut science graduate admissions by 75% over the next two years , which includes the year I will apply to its graduate programs. As Harvar...