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Paul A. Volcker, a formidable force in U.S. government who led the Federal Reserve to quell inflation in the late 1970s and early ’80s, died Sunday, Dec. 8, in New York. He was 92.

Princeton seniors Andrew Brown and Avital Fried have been named 2019 Marshall Scholars. The Marshall Scholarship seeks to promote strong relations between the United Kingdom and the United States by offering intellectually distinguished young Americans the opportunity to develop their abilities as future leaders. The scholarship covers the cost of two years of graduate study in the UK at a university of the recipient’s choice.

The National Academy of Inventors has named Princeton engineering professors Howard Stone and James Sturm among 168 fellows for 2019.

Princeton University will present its top awards for alumni to Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Kip Thorne, co-winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

President Christopher L. Eisgruber issued this statement following the release of graduate student Xiyue Wang, who had been held in Iran since 2016:

“The entire Princeton University community is overjoyed that Xiyue Wang can finally return home to his wife and young son, and we look forward to welcoming him back to campus. We are grateful to everyone, at Princeton and beyond, who has supported Xiyue and his family throughout his unjust imprisonment, and for all the efforts that have led to his release. We would like to especially extend our thanks to the United States government, the government of Switzerland, and the students, faculty and staff who continued to advocate for Xiyue’s freedom throughout this ordeal.”

Hua Qu, wife of Xiyue Wang, issued this statement:

“Our family is complete once again. Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.”

In a few days, Princeton University professor emeritus and 1962 graduate alumnus James Peebles will be celebrated with the other 2019 Nobel laureates at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Trenton Youth Orchestra and Trenton Youth Singers will present their annual winter concert, “”It’s the Most Incredible Time of the Year,” at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 in Rocky Common Room. As part of the Trenton Arts @ Princeton Saturday morning program, the Trenton Youth Orchestra and Trenton Youth Singers provide free musical instruction, programming, and performance opportunities for students from Trenton public schools. Trenton Arts @ Princeton is supported by the Department of Music, Princeton University Concerts, Pace Center for Civic Engagement, and Gustavo Dudamel Foundation.

On Friday evening during First-year Families Weekend, I introduced an event about “The Spirit of Truth-Seeking,” featuring Professors Robert P. George and Cornel West. This topic is core to this University’s mission and to the mission of all great research universities. I was delighted to offer some thoughts about truth-seeking to the audience that night, and I am similarly glad to share my comments with readers of the Princeton Alumni Weekly. Here is an excerpt from what I said. — C.L.E.

Tonight’s discussion addresses a topic, truthseeking, that resides at the heart of this University and, indeed, at the center of any research university worthy of the name. We have many kinds of schools in this country, with many kinds of goals. Schools may aim at skill-building, value formation, vocational training, or the transmission of expertise. None of these goals are absent from a research university’s mission, but neither are they the core of it. Research universities have a more radical, disruptive, thrilling, and demanding mission: they seek truth about questions that matter even when, perhaps especially when, investigating them may threaten conventional wisdom or societal pieties.

Researchers from Princeton’s Climate Change and History Research Initiative investigated pollen counts, coinage and burial practices, and many other data sets to study the first plague. They concluded that the first major plague of late antiquity, also known as the Justinianic Plague, may have had its effects overestimated.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/02/maybe-first-plague-wasnt-bad-say-researchers