As Columbia looks beyond the year 2000 and toward the institution's 250th Anniversary in 2004, the University will be focusing on and celebrating the monumental creative energy of Columbia scholars and their influence on the growth of knowledge. Through a series of essays on great moments and great figures in Columbia's intellectual, scientific and educational history, a collection of "Living Legacies" has emerged. These essays, written by scholars of great distinction, will focus on special developments in the recent past that should be celebrated not just as a part of local history, but also recognizing their national and international significance.

Installments of this series will be published monthly in Columbia Magazine.

Read the Introduction to the Living Legacies Series: "Great Moments, Leading Figures."

Read the first installment of the series, entitled "Da Ponte, MacDowell, Moore and Lang."