Cornell Rare and Manuscript Collections
Top: Johnson chats with Earle in the A.D. White Reading Room, as University Librarian Elaine Westbrooks looks on.
Former UK prime minister delves into an ancestor's Big Red history
In late April 2026, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a lecture on the Hill. But before delivering his remarks, he visited Uris and Kroch libraries to view materials about Elias Avery Lowe 1902—his great-grandfather.
While Johnson remembered meeting Lowe as a child, he didn’t know his ancestor’s Big Red pedigree. (Fortunately, his tour guide—yours truly—did.)
A look into Lowe’s file in the University Archives provides a glimpse into the life of one of Cornell’s most notable classical scholars.
In fact, a 1960 letter from the curator of rare books, George Healey, PhD ’47, to the University Librarian calls Lowe “the most overlooked of all our graduates who have reached genuine world-wide distinction,” adding: “I believe no graduate of the University has achieved a higher position in his chosen field of scholarship.”
Chris Kitchen/College of Arts and Sciences
Using a new technique, Paul Malinowski and other researchers in Kyle Shen’s lab found that iron selenide’s superconducting “dome” is more closely linked to resistance caused by imperfections in its crystal lattice than to the number of electrons flowing through the crystal.
Cornell Rare and Manuscript Collections
Top: Johnson chats with Earle in the A.D. White Reading Room, as University Librarian Elaine Westbrooks looks on.
