DSLS 1987-1988

Follow

• 

  What's Mathematical Physics to Physics?

  Michael Ellis Fisher

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  Dr. Fisher was recently appointed the Wilson H. Elkins Professor in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology of the University of Maryland. Previously he was Horace White Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics at Cornell University, where he had taught since 1966. Born in Trinidad, West Indies, Dr. Fisher earned the Ph.D. degree in 1957 from King's College, London, where he was lecturer, reader, and professor of physics. He has also held distinguished visiting positions at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Rockefeller University, Stanford and Harvard universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; most recently he was visiting professor at the University of Oxford and the Weizmann Institute. Honors for Dr. Fisher's work have included the Wolf Prize in Physics, two Guggenheim fellowships, the New York Academy of Sciences Award in Physical and Mathematical Science, the Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, and the Guthrie Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (U.K.). He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society, and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Dr. Fisher is co-author of Analogue Compouting at Ultra-High Speed, The Nature of Critical Points, and The Theory of Equilibrium Critical Phenomena, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. He has served on the editorial boards of Communications in Mathematical Physics, Journal of Statistical Physics, Chemical Physics, and Journal of Theoretical Biology, among others.

  His Work: Dr. Fisher's research has been in the field of electronic analogue computing ( experimental and theoretical), statistical mechanics and chemical physics of condensed matter (theory of polymers, magnetism, phase transitions and critical and multicritical phenomena, liquid helium, wetting, rigorous foundations, etc.), and associated mathematical problems, including Toeplitz matrices, asymptotic approximation, and numerical analysis of power series.

  His Lecture: February 27, 1988: "What's Mathematical Physics to Physics?"

• 

  The Phase Problem of X-Ray Crystallography

  Herbert A. Hauptman

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  Dr. Hauptman, a Nobel laureate, is president and research director of the Medical Foundation of Buffalo and Research Professor of Biophysical Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Born in New York City, Dr. Hauptman earned the M.A. degree from Columbia University and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland. He taught mathematics at the University of Maryland until 1970, during which time he also worked in mathematics and mathematical physics at the Naval Research Laboratory. He joined the Medical Foundation of Buffalo as head of the Mathematical Biophysics Laboratory in 1970 and was appointed president in 1986. Dr. Hauptman received early honors for his work with the Belden Prize in Mathematics in 1935 and the RESA Award in Pure Sciences in 1959. He was elected president of the Association of Independent Research Institutes in 1979 and 1980, and received the Travel Grant Award from the National Science Foundation for travel to India in 1982. In 1984 he was co-recipient of the Patterson Award, and in 1985 he was co-recipient with Jerome Karle of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in the "direct method," an analytical technique to determine the three-dimensional structure of molecules. He recently received the Norton Medal and the Gold Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Dr. Hauptman has published extensively in the field of crystallography and phase determination. In addition to articles in scholarly journals and anthologies, he is the author of Crystal Structure Determination: The Role of the Cosine Seminvariants, co-author with Jerome Karle of Solution of the Phase Problems, and editor of Direct Methods in Crystallogy" hy, Proceedings of the 1976 Intercongress Symposium.

  His Work: Dr. Hauptman has developed statistical formulae applied to X-ray crystallography, a means of examining the architecture of substances by taking the crystallized spots and reconstructing them into a three-dimensional picture. His "direct methods" are now the standard procedure for determining the structure of small molecules such as hormones, vitamins and drugs.

  His Lecture: March 12, 1988: "The Phase Problem of X-Ray Crystallography"

• 

  The Bacterial Cell Membrane: Berlin Wall of the Cell

  Hans Kornberg

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1983-1984).

  RECORDING UNAVAILABLE.

  Born in Herford, Germany, Dr. Kornberg is Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. Dr. Kornberg received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Sheffield, the M.A. and D.Sc. degrees from the University of Oxford, and the Sc.D. degree from the University of Cambridge. He did postdoctoral research at Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Public Health Research Institute (New York City) before returning to England to join the Medical Research Council's Cell Metabolism Unit. His work there with Sir Hans Krebs led to his appointments as Foundation Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and as a Fellow of the Royal Society. During his fifteen years at Leicester he established a School of Biological Sciences that became a model for others throughout the United Kingdom. In addition to his research, Dr. Kornberg has served as chairman of the Science Board of the British Science Research Council, as UK delegate and chairman of the NATO Advanced Studies Institute's Panel, as chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and as vice chairman of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He currently serves as academic governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and as Scientific Governor of the Weizmann Institute. Dr. Kornberg was honored with a Knighthood in 1978.

  His Work: Dr. Kornberg's research has focused on the nature and regulation of the processes that effect the entry into micro-organisms of food materials, and their subsequent utilization for the provision of energy and of cell components.

  His Lecture: April 9, 1988: "The Bacterial Cell Membrane: Berlin Wall of the Cell"

• 

  Chemistry of a Simple Behavioral System'

  Daniel E. Koshland Jr.

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  Dr. Koshland is professor of biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley and editor of Science magazine. Born in New York City, Dr. Koshland earned the B.S. degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago. After two postdoctoral years at Harvard University, he joined the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory and held joint appointments at Rockefeller University and Brookhaven until 1965, when he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Koshland is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Chemical Society, and the American Society of Biological Chemists, where he has served as president. Among his honors are the Edgar Fahs Smith Award and the Pauling Award of the American Chemical Society, the Rosenstiel Award of Brandeis University, and the T. Duckett Jones Award of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College at Oxford University, and was elected an honorary foreign member of the Japanese Biochemical Society and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. As founding member and chairman of the Academy Forum, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, he helped develop policy on issues that pose dilemmas between science and societal problems. Currently chairman of the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Koshland has served on the editorial boards of Accounts of Chemical Research, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and the Journal of Molecular Biology.

  His Work: Dr. Koshland's early work focused on enzyme mechanisms and protein chemistry leading to the concept of single and double displacement reactions, the development of reagents for carboxyl groups and tryptophan, and the analysis of factors explaining the high catalytic power of enzymes. This work led to his concept of the induced fit theory, the general work on cooperativity mechanisms, and the discovery of negative cooperativity. His recent work has focused on mechanisms of behavior using bacterial chemotaxis as a model system.

  His Lecture April 30, 1988: "Chemistry of a Simple Behavioral System"

• 

  Traffic Problems and Their Solution in Animal Cells

  George E. Palade

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  Recording is distorted.

  Dr. Palade, a Nobel laureate, is senior research Scientist and special advisor to the dean at Yale University School of Medicine. Born in Moldavia, Rumania, Dr. Palade earned the M.D. degree at the University of Bucharest while he was intern and resident at the Association of the Civil Hospital of Bucharest. He came to he United States in 1946 to be visiting investigator in the Department of Biology at New York Univerisity, and has since held positions at the Rockefeller Institute and Yale University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the . National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, and several other scientific societies. Honors for Dr. Palade's work have included the National Medal of Science, the Henry Gray Award, the Schleiden Medaille, the Brown-Hazen Award, the Dickson Prize, and the Horwitz Prize, along others. In 1974 he received the Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries, with A. Claude and C. DeDuve, on the structural and functional organization of the cell. He has also recieved a number of honorary degrees from both American and European universities. Dr. Palade is the author of many articles on issues in cell biology in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Annals of Biochemistry, Journal of Cell Biology and other scientific journals, as well as in several anthologies and proceedings. He has been editor of the Journal of Cell Biology and Journal of Molecular Biology and is presently editor of the editor of Membrance Biology and Annual Review of Cell Biology.

  His Work: Dr. Palade's research has concentrated on cell fractionation and electron microscopy. A series of he that he made on the cytoplasmic membrane systems led to his important work on protein synthesis, especially in the pancreatic cell.

  His Lecture: February 13, 1988: "Traffic Problems and Their Solution in Animal Cells"

• 

  Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988

  Bard College

  Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988, published by the Bard Center

• 

  Discovering and Exploring the New Borane Continent

  Herbert C. Brown

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  A Nobel laureate, Dr. Brown is Wetherill Research Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, where he has taught since 1947. Born in London, England, Dr. Brown received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago, where he did postdoctoral work and taught before joining the faculties of Wayne State University and subsequently Purdue. He has also held several visiting lectureships, including the Harrison Howe, Thomas W. Talley, Edgar Fahs Smith, Baker, and Henry Gilman lectureships, and was the Centenary Lecturer of the Chemical Society (London). Dr. Brown received the Nobel Prize in 1979 for his explorations of the role of boron in organic chemistry, particularly in the creation of organoboranes. In addition to the Nobel Prize honors for his work have included the Nichols Medal, the CS Award for Creative Research, the Linus Pauling Medal, the National Medal of Science, the Roger Adams Medal, the Charles Frederick Chandler Medal, the Priestley Medal, the Perkin Medal, and the A.LC. Gold Medal. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary fellow of the Chemical Society. Author of books and articles including Hydroboration, Boranes in Organic Chemistry, and The Nonclassical Ion Problem, Dr. Brown has contributed any articles to professional and scholarly journals.

  His Work:. At a time when steric hindrance was considered to be "the last refuge of puzzled organic chemist;' Dr. Brown's studies of molecular addition compounds contributed to the reacceptance of steric effects as a major factor in chemical behavior. His studies on aromatic substitution led to a quantitative theory based on the new Brown + constants. His studies on applications of the borohydrides and diborance to organic synthesis have had revolutionary impact on synthetic organic chemistry. From his work on boron and in organic chemistry, he has undertaken to explore the chemistry of organoboranes, a chemistry that is proving unusually rich.

  His Lecture: October 17, 1987: "Discovering and Exploring the New Borane Continent"

• 

  Concrete Cases Purveying Political Opinions as Science

  Serge Lang

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1987-1988).

  Dr. Lang was born in Paris, France in 1927. He came to the United States in 1940, received the B.S. degree from the California Institute Of Technology in 1946, and the Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1951. From 1953-1955 he was an instructor at the University of Chicago, and from 1955-1970 he was professor of mathematics at Columbia University. He was a visiting professor at Princeton and Harvard and has been a professor of mathematics at Yale University since 1972. He has published more than 60 articles and has written 32 mathematics books. He is a member of The National Academy of Sciences and The American Mathematical Society. He received the Prix Carriere from the Academie des Sciences, Paris and The Cole Prize from the American Mathematical Society.

  His Work: Dr. Lang's research has been primarily in algebraic geometry and number theory.

  His Lecture "Concrete Cases Purveying Political Opinions as Science"