Newsmakers

Michael Lewis ’82 has shaken up Wall Street with the March publication of his book Flash Boys, which argues that computer-based, high-speed trading gives high-frequency traders a strong edge over everyone else. Days after Lewis discussed the system on 60 Minutes — one of numerous national-media appearances — three government investigations into the practice were announced.

Image

Frances Arnold ’79

Caltech

Caltech professor Frances Arnold ’79 will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame this month for her work “‘breeding’ scientifically interesting or technologically useful proteins,” the announcement said.

Leo Damrosch *68’s book, Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.

The Washington Post shared the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service for reporting led by Barton Gellman ’82, and including Marc Fisher ’80, about secret surveillance by the National Security Agency. The editorial staff of The Oregonian won the Pulitzer for editorial writing for its pieces about rising pension costs. Erik Lukens *95 is editorial and commentary editor.

Writer and producer David E. Kelley ’79, whose TV shows have included Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, and Boston Legal, was inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame in March.

Courtesy Hobart Earle ’83

On March 22, the day after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Hobart Earle ’83, with a collection of musicians, led a flash-mob performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in a fish market in Odessa, Ukraine, where Earle has led the philharmonic orchestra since 1991.

Above, watch a video of Earle’s flash mob.