Geller — a pioneering astrophysicist who mapped the large-scale structure of the universe — delivered her address at the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony during Harvard's commencement. She began by connecting the history of Phi Beta Kappa (founded at William and Mary in 1776) to the founding of the United States, noting that among the fifty original members, 'one quarter served in the Revolutionary Army.' But her real subject was the human capacity for understanding as a defining trait of the species. 'Other creatures may think, communicate, even wonder; but we are unique in our ability to understand.' She illustrated this with the story of visiting a cancer researcher at Dana-Farber who drew 'a blobby thing with a nucleus' and said 'This is a cell.' She turned the paper over, drew the same shape, and said: 'This is a galaxy.' The parallel — both fit on an 8½ by 11 sheet of paper — captured the scientist's power to comprehend worlds at any scale.