On July 1, 2018 Professor Cumrun Vafa was officially appointed the Hollis Professor of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy in the Physics Department at Harvard University. While potentitally misleading, the chair was founded before "Mathematicks and Natural Philosphy" came to be known as "Physics." Thus, the appointment, is, in fact, a physics chair. Professor Vafa has been a Professor of Physics at Harvard University for 28 years. The Hollis Professorship of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy is the second oldest chair at Harvard and the oldest chair in science in all of the United States. The title has mantained its original spelling of the word "Mathematicks" with a "k" from when it was established in 1727 by Thomas Hollis.

To view the "Rules and Orders relating to a Professor of the Mathematicks, of Natural and Experimental Philosphy" written in 1726, click here: https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:50969000