Previous School of Science
Dean's Seminars
Dr. Robert P. Kirshner
The Accelerating Universe: A Nobel Surprise
Friday, February 22, 2013
Dr. Robert P. Kirshner is the Clowes Professor of Science at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard College in 1970 and received a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Caltech. He was a postdoc at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, and was on the faculty at the University of Michigan for 9 years. In 1986, he moved to the Harvard Astronomy Department. He served as Chairman of the Department from 1990-1997 and as the head of the Optical and Infrared Division of the CfA from 1997-2003.
Professor Kirshner is an author of over 200 research papers dealing with supernovae and observational cosmology. His work with the High-Z Supernova Team on the acceleration of the Universe was dubbed the "Science Breakthrough of the Year for 1998" by Science Magazine. Kirshner and the High-Z Team shared in the Gruber Prize for Cosmology in 2007. In 2011, two of his former graduate students, Brian Schmidt and Adam Reiss, shared in the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998 and the American Philosophical Society in 2004. He served as President of the American Astronomical Society from 2003-2005. Kirshner was given the Distinguished Alumni Award by Caltech in 2004.
Kirshner is a frequent public lecturer on science. His popular-level book "The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos" won the AAP Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Physics and Astronomy and was a Finalist for the 2003 Aventis Prize.
For more information on Dr. Robert P. Kirshner, please visit his Web Site.
Visit previous Dean's Seminars for more information.
Helicobacter pylori Before and After the Nobel Prize
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011
DR. BARRY J. MARSHALL, MBBS
Dr. Barry J. Marshall, MBBS
Clinical Professor, University of Western Australia
Dr. Marshall (together with Dr. J. Robin Warren) was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their 1982 discovery that a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, causes one of the most common and important diseases of mankind, peptic ulcer disease, and is a bacteria contributor to gastric cancer.
In 1984, while at Fremantle Hospital, Dr. Marshall proved H. pylori to be harmful, via a well-publicized experiment in which he drank a culture of H. pylori. Despite widespread skepticism, Dr. Marshall determined that a combination of drugs that killed H. pylori,eliminated peptic ulcers permanently. Affecting 50% of the global population, H. pylori is recognized as the most common chronic infection worldwide. The hypothesis that H. pylori is a causative factor of stomach cancer was accepted in 1994 by the World Health Organization. This work has now been acknowledged as the most significant discovery in the history of gastroenterology and is compared to the development of the polio vaccine and the eradication of smallpox.
Click here to view a complete profile for Dr. Barry J. Marshall, MBBS.
.jpg "Dr Mullis Group Photo")
Dr. Kary Mullis, shown above with Dean Palladino and MU alumni, was the speaker in 2010
The annual School of Science Dean's Seminar Series was created by Dean Michael A. Palladino in 2009 to provide Monmouth University students, faculty and staff, and the University community with an opportunity to interact with leading scientists, educators, and policy makers in the sciences. Seminars are free and open to the public, and anyone interested is welcomed to attend. Dr. Kary Mullis was the speaker in March 2010.
PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
2010
Dr. Kary Mullis, Nobel Laureate (chemistry, 1993) and President of Altermune LLC. The Unusual Origin of PCR(March 1, 2010)
2009
Dr. John D. Gearhart, James W. Effron University Professor and Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Challenges in Regenerative Medicine (April 30, 2009)
