Harvard Physicist Wins National Championship in 24-Hour Run

Jenny Hoffman is an associate professor of physics at Harvard University. She is also the national champion of USA Track and Field’s 24-Hour Run, held in Cleveland. Over a 24-hour-period, Dr. Hoffman ran more than 127 miles to capture the first place award.

“Running is great because it depends on hard work,” Dr. Hoffman said. “It doesn’t depend on luck, or on what other people think. It just really depends on hard work. It’s really satisfying, especially when I get very busy, and have 400 things on my to-do list, and I can get only two of them done in a day. That can become very stressful, whereas running — I go out for a run and there’s one item on the to-do list, and it’s run.”

Dr. Hoffman is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Berkeley.