Nobel Prize Winner Inaugurates President’s Lecture Series

Contact: Greta Paules
Phone: 527-4929

Nobel Prize Winner Inaugurates President’s Lecture Series

Leon Lederman, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in physics,
will speak at Rice on Tuesday, September 15, to initiate the 1992-93
President’s Lecture Series.

One of the most brilliant physicists of the 20th century,
Lederman possesses the rare ability to communicate complex
scientific concepts to audiences with little or no science
background. His down-to-earth language, engaging sense of humor, and
approachable style have won him wide acclaim as an outstanding
communicator and put him in high demand on the world lecture
circuit.

Lederman’s interests range from the microworld of subatomic
particles to the outer reaches and inner workings of the universe.
He has conducted cutting-edge research at major laboratories across
the country and abroad, including the Nevis Laboratory (New York),
which he directed from 1961 to 1978; CERN (Geneva, Switzerland);
Lawrence Berkeley Lab (California); Princeton, Rutherford Lab
(England); and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Chicago),
which he directed from 1979 to 1989. It was largely through his
efforts that the Superconducting Supercollider was established.

In 40-plus years on the frontiers of scientific investigation,
Lederman has published about 200 papers on high-energy particle
physics and overseen the research of 52 Ph.D. students. He has
served as chairman of the Governor’s Science Advisory Committee,
vice chairman of the Illinois Coalition, and co-chairman of the
Board of Trustees for the Teachers’ Academy of Mathematics and
Science in Chicago.

Rejecting the notion that science is for scientists only,
Lederman strives to make science understandable and "comfortable" to
a broader audience. While many less eminent researchers prefer to
limit their teaching to graduate students, Lederman welcomes
interaction with less advanced-but by no means less interested-
students. He teaches a course with the unlikely title "Quantum
Mechanics for Poets" and initiated a physics class for teachers and
high school students that was very popular despite the fact that it
met on Saturday mornings. This fall he will teach introductory
physics at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

An ongoing concern for Lederman is the quality of science
education in the United States. Convinced that young children are
naturally hungry for knowledge, Lederman believes the roots of
science illiteracy lie in inadequate teacher training. Teachers
often have a shaky grasp of the principles they need to explain and
are unaware of the many visual aids and other teaching props
available to make instruction clearer and more exciting.

To help teachers teach science, Lederman initiated a number of
science training or retraining programs. He also helped establish
the Illinois Math and Science Academy, a public boarding school that
nurtures the development of promising students. Increasing our
country’s science literacy is crucial, Lederman feels, because
"science and education are the admission tickets to the 21st
century."

Admission to Leon Lederman’s lecture is free and open to all. It
is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. in the Rice Memorial Center Grand Hall.
To attend, enter Gate #12 off Rice Boulevard or Gate #8 off
University Boulevard. Parking is available directly across from the
Center and in nearby lots. Seating is limited and available on a
first-come, first-served basis.

###