Bard Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series (All)

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  Styles and Patterns in Biomedical Research

  Joshua Lederberg

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1981-1982).

  
  

  Dr. Lederberg, Nobel laureate and president of The Rockefeller University, was born in Montclair, New Jersey. He received his BA degree from Columbia College in 7944, then entered Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. After two years he transferred to Yale University, where he received his Ph.D. degree in microbiology in 7947. In 7958, at the age of 33, he was named a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine along with Dr. E.L. Tatum and Dr. George Beadle. From 1947 to 1959, Dr. Lederberg was professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin where he served as chairman of the department of medical genetics from 7957-59. In 1959 he joined the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he was the Joseph D. Grant Professor of genetics and chairman of the department of genetics. He was concurrently professor of biology and professor of computer science at Stanford. He was named president of The Rockefeller University in 1978.

  His Work: Dr. Lederberg pioneered in the field of bacterial genetics. Prior to his discovery that bacterial strains could be crossed to produce an offspring containing a new combination of genetic factors, scientists had known little about the bacterial genetic mechanism and many even doubted that bacteria possessed a genetic mechanism similar to that of higher organisms. Later, at the University of Wisconsin, he showed that bacterial genetic material was exchanged not only by conjugation (when the entire complement of chromosomes is transferred from one bacterial cell to another) but also by transduction (when only fragments are transferred). This was among the first demonstrations of the manipulation of any organism's genetic material, and it opened prospects of far-reaching genetic experimentation.

  His Lecture: "Styles and Patterns in Biomedical Research"

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  Molecular Beams, Experimental Discovery, and Theoretical and Mathematical Insights

  I. I, Rabi

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Rabi was born in Raymanon, Austria, and came to the United States when he was one year old. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and then, after two years of study in Munich, Copenhagen, Leipzig, and Zurich, returned to Columbia as a professor of physics. In 1940, Dr. Rabi took a leave of absence from Columbia to serve as associate director of the Radiation Lab at M .I. T., where he worked on the development of radar. During this period he served on the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He later conducted research at the Brookhaven National Laboratories on the peacetime uses of atomic energy. He has been science advisor to the government under a succession of presidents. Among his many awards and honors are the Atoms for Peace Award and the Nobel Prize in physics in 1944.

  In 1930, Dr. Rabi began experiments on the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei. His work in the area helped determine the course of research on the atom throughout the 30's and 40's. He established the need for precise, accurate knowledge of the magnetic and electrical properties of the atom and of the forces which hold nuclei together. Complementing the work of Otto Stem, fellow physicist and Nobel Prize recipient, Rabi began manipulating beams of atoms to study the magnetic structure of nuclei. For developing the molecular beam resonance technique, a major tool in nuclear research, Rabi was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in physics. Dr. Rabi's work was fundamental to the subsequent development of lasers and masers, particularly as tools in atomic research. Dr. Rabi's lecture is titled "Molecular Beams, Experimental Discovery, and Theoretical and Mathematical Insights." He will focus particularly on the connections between theory and experimentation - - how theory points the way to discovery, and how discovery gives rise to new theory.

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  Life in the Universe

  George Wald

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Wald was born in New York City and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He did research with Otto Warburg in Berlin, and in 1934 joined the faculty of Harvard University, becoming a professor of biochemistry. He is currently professor emeritus at Harvard. Among his awards are the Albert Lasker A ward of the American Public Health Association, the Rumford Premium of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 1967 Nobel Prize in physiology.

  Dr. Wald's area of expertise is the chemistry and physiology of the human eye; in fact, practically all that is known about the chemical process by which light is transmuted into sight has come directly or indirectly from his work. Dr. Wald's first major achievement was his discovery of the presence of vitamin A in the retina, made in 1932 while he worked in Warburg's laboratory. In 1967, Dr. Wald won the Nobel Prize in physiology, sharing the award with Haldan K. Hartline and Ragnar Granit. He has also been a key figure in the development of government regulations for recombinant DNA research. Dr. Wald's lecture at Bard is titled "Life in the Universe."

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  Recent Developments in Molecular Spectroscopy and Some of Their Implications

  E. Bright Wilson

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  A native of Tennessee, Dr. Wilson did his undergraduate work at Princeton and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. After three years as a teaching fellow there, he went to Harvard where he became the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry. He is now professor emeritus at Harvard. Dr. Wilson has received the American Chemical Society A ward in Pure Chemistry, the Pauling Award, the Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Medal of Science. He is a member of the Commission on Natural Resources and of the corporation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Since 1977, he has been the chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management of the National Academy of Science.

  Dr. Wilson is a world authority on molecular spectroscopy, the analysis of spectra as a means of studying the structure and dynamics of polyatomic molecules. In particular he has made seminal contributions to the general theory and practice of vibrational spectroscopy. In 1966, he was co-author of a book on this subject,Molecular Vibrations, which remains a classic in the field. He also wrote with Linus Pauling, in 1933, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, one of the earliest and most widely used texts on quantum chemistry. During World War ll, Dr. Wilson served as research director of the Underwater Explosives Research Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. From 1944 to 1946, he was a division chief of the National Defense Research Committee, and later was the research and deputy director of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group of the Department of Defense. For this work, he was awarded the Medal for Merit by the United States government. For the past several decades, he has worked on the microwave spectroscopy of large molecules, and is now continuing his studies of the internal and overall rotational motion of chemical species in gases. Dr. Wil n will speak on "Recent Developments in Molecular Spectroscopy and Some of Their Implications."

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  Radioactivity in the Service of Man

  Rosalyn Yalow

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Yalow was born in New York City and received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. She became assistant professor of physics at Hunter College and physicist and assistant chief of the Radioisotope and Nuclear Medicine Service at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, New York. She has been chief of the Nuclear Medicine Service at the Veterans Hospital, director of the Solomon A. Berson Research Laboratory, professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is now senior medical investigator for the Veterans Administration Medical Center and chairman of the Department of Clinical Services at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center. Among other honors, she has received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Rosalyn S. Yalow Research and Development A ward of the American Diabetes Association, the Gratum Genus Humanum Gold Medal of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and the 1977 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine.

  Dr. Yalow has been a pioneer of radioimmunoassay(RIA) in medical research and diagnosis. RIA is a technique that uses such materials as radioiodine to investigate biological process. It was introduced a quarter of a century ago in experiments to trace the circulation of insulin in diabetes patients. Subsequently the technique has been used to observe fluctuations in hormone levels of patient and r arch subjects in a variety of different areas significant to medical and biological science. RIA has been particularly important in the field of public health, where it has been used to diagnose hypothyroidism and to reduce the incidence of hepatitis contracted through blood transfusions. Dr. Yalow will speak on "Radioactivity in the Service of Man" and will deal particularly with the future of nuclear medicine.

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  Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-1981

  Bard College

  Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program from 1980-1981, published by the Bard Center

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  Chance and Regularity

  Mark Kac

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Kac was born in Krzemieniec, Poland and received his Ph.D. there at the John Casimir University. He came to the United States in 1938 under a Parnas Foundation fellowship to do re search at the Johns Hopkins University. From 1939 to 1961, he was a member of the mathematics faculty at Cornell University and since 1961, has been a professor of mathematics and theoretical physics at Rockefeller University. He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (1951-52), and has served as a visiting professor or lecturer at the University of Leiden, Oxford University, the Universite Libre of Brussels, the Rijks Universiteit at Utrecht, and the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. Dr. Kac has twice won the Chauvenet Prize of the Mathematical Association of America, and he is the recipient of the 1976 Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award in Science and of the 1978 Birkhoff Prize, given jointly by the American Mathematical Society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  Dr. Kac is an authority on probability theory, particularly its use in mathematical analysis and statistical physics. He has published many articles and two books, Probability and Related Topics of Physical Sciences (1959) and, with S. Ulam, Mathematics and Logic: Retrospect and Prospects (1968). Dr. Kac will speak on "Chance and Regularity" in nature as well as in mathematics.

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  The Persian Gulf - -If lt's Still There

  Edward Teller

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Teller was born in Budapest, Hungary, and studied in Germany where he received his doctorate from the University of Leipzig. He spent a year in Copenhagen studying under Niels Bohr as a Rockefeller Fellow. In 1935, Dr. Teller left Europe for a professorship in physics at George Washington University. He taught briefly at Columbia University, and in 1942, became a physicist with the Manhattan Project, the government-sponsored research program which developed the atomic bomb. Dr. Teller resumed academic work as a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, before returning to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory as its assistant director in 1949. From 1954 to 1975, he was associated with the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, and is now its director emeritus. Since 1975, Dr. Teller has been a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. Dr. Teller has received the Joseph Priestly Memorial Award, the Albert Einstein Award and the Fermi Award. He is the author of several books including The Legacy of Hiroshima (with A. Brown), The Reluctant Revolutionary, and Energy: A Plan for Action.

  Dr. Teller's career has included research in chemistry, plasma and nuclear physics, quantum theory, thermonuclear reactions, astrophysics, spectroscopy of polyatomic molecules, and the statistical mechanics of fluids. Dr. Teller is interested in the applications of nuclear energy, particularly as part of a comprehensive energy plan for the United States. Recently he has devoted his energies to a study of America's dependence upon foreign oil and its economic and political implications. Dr. Teller will speak on ''The Persian Gulf: If It's Still There.''

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  Problems of Quantum Mechanics Measurement Process

  Eugene Wigner

  (This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1980-81).

  Dr. Wigner was born in Budapest, Hungary, and received the degree of Doctor of Engineering from the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. He taught at universities in Germany for several years, before coming to the United States in 1930 as a lecturer at Princeton University. He has been a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin, and a professor, lecturer, or research director at the Instituut-Lorentz in Leiden, the University of Massachusetts, Louisiana State University, and other universities and research centers throughout the world. From 1938 to 1971, he was the Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics at the Palmer Lab at Princeton. Among the awards and honors he has received are the Fermi Award, given by the U. S. Congress, the Albert Einstein Award, the National Medal of Science, and the 1963 Nobel Prize for physics.

  Dr. Wigner is best known for his pioneering work in nuclear structure. Perhaps his most important achievement was the application of the mathematical system of group theory to atomic and nuclear problems. From 1942 to 1945, Dr. Wigner worked at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago, where he participated with Enrico Fermi in the experiment that produced the world's first controlled nuclear reaction. From 1946 to 1947, he served as the Director of Research and Development of the Clinton Laboratories, the headquarters of the Manhattan Project. His book, Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors, written with A.M. Weinberg and published in 1958, was largely based on his work during this period. Dr. Wigner will speak on "The Problems of Quantum Mechanics Measurement Process."