Celebrate Tufts! - Pioneers

Since Tufts' founding, Tufts graduates have left their mark on society
by making distinctive contributions in their professions. In honor of their spirit of exploration and innovation, we offer the list below, highlighting just some of the many Tufts pioneers who shaped the world we live in today.

Vannevar Bush, E13, G13, H32
(1890-1974)
A scholar, engineer and scientist, Bush was the architect of modern U.S. science policy during and after World War II and is credited with developing an early version of the computer.

Allan MacLeod Cormack, H80
(1924-1998)
The recipient of the Ballou Medal in 1978 and member of the Tufts faculty for 22 years, Cormack received the 1979 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work in developing the computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan.

Charles Ernest Fay, A1868, H28
(1846-1931)
The Wade Professor of Modern Languages at Tufts for more than 60 years, Fay was an internationally known mountain climber and was honored by the Canadian government by having a one of the Canadian Rockies' peaks named for him.

Jessie Gideon Garnett, D19
(1897-1976)
The first African-American woman to graduate from Tufts School of Dental Medicine, she went on to become the first African-American woman to practice dentistry in the Boston area.

Jester Hairston, A29, H72
(1901-2000)
A talented musician, composer and actor who appeared in such films as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Being John Malkovich," Hairston helped to create world-wide interest in American gospel music by traveling to different countries and instructing foreign groups in performing American folk songs.

Frederick H. Hauck, A62
As commander, Hauck led three flights into space including the first space salvage mission in history and the first post-Challenger accident flight of the space shuttle Discovery.

Frank H. Lahey, H28
(1880-1953)
A faculty member of the Tufts School of Medicine, he founded the Lahey Clinic, whose high quality patient care was used as a model for other healthcare facilities.

Timothy Leary, H07
(1870-1954)
A professor at the Tufts School of Medicine, Leary developed a serum that saved thousands of lives during the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic and helped to immunize thousands against smallpox in one of the largest smallpox control experiments at the time.

Robert L. Nichols, A26, H78
(1904-1995)
A noted explorer and geologist who served on the Tufts faculty for 45 years, Nichols' discoveries led to the naming of the Tufts Pass in Antarctica and the Tufts Elv in Greenland.

Pierre Omidyar, A88
Omidyar created eBay, one of the most powerful websites on the Internet. He and his wife, Pamela Kerr Omidyar, J89, established the Omidyar Foundation, through which they plan to give away all but one percent of their fortune by the year 2020.

Fred Stark Pearson, E1883, G1884, H1900, H1905
(1861-1915)
A highly influential electrical engineer, Pearson revolutionized city rail systems and the use of hydroelectric power around the world. Pearson Memorial Chemistry Laboratories is named in his honor.

Harold Power, E14
(1892-1969)
Power organized the American Radio and Research Corporation (AMRAD), which set up one of the first two broadcasting stations in America and was the first to broadcast on a daily schedule.

Victor A. Prather, Jr., A44, M52
(1923-1961)
Prather made space history when, testing the first space suit, he and his colleague, Commander Malcolm Ross, rose to 113,740 feet on May 4, 1961, seated in an open gondola suspended beneath a Strato-Lab balloon.

Max Tishler, A28, H56
(1907-1989)
Tishler is credited with tremendous gains in drug development, including creating processes that allowed for mass distributions of penicillin and cortisone.

Norbert Wiener, A1909
(1894-1964)
A world-renowned mathematician and founder of the science of cybernetics, Wiener formulated some of the most important contributions to mathematics in the 20th century.