Charles Van Doren

Charles Lincoln Van Doren came from a family of intellectual achievers. His father was the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren (1894-1973). His mother, Dorothy Graffe Van Doren, was a novelist and writer, and his uncle, Carl Clinton Van Doren (1885-1950), was a noted historian and author. Van Doren himself earned his B.A. at St. John's College, an M.A. in astrophysics from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in English.