The Johns Hopkins Gazette: October 1, 2001
October 1, 2001
VOL. 31, NO. 5

  

In Brief

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

Nominations sought for honorary degree recipients

The Committee on Honorary Degrees invites nominations from members of the Johns Hopkins community. Candidates should be individuals who have a record of outstanding achievement in a field of human endeavor appropriate for recognition by the university, such as notable academic achievement or notable public achievement in government or politics, commerce, service or the arts. A connection to the university is desirable.

Letters of nomination, accompanied by a curriculum vitae or biographical information, should be sent by Oct. 18 to Paula Burger, chair, Committee on Honorary Degrees, Office of the Provost, 265 Garland.


Charlton Heston talk at MSE Symposium canceled

Due to a film that Charlton Heston will be shooting in South America, he is unable to keep his commitment to speak at Hopkins Oct. 4 as part of the 2001 Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium.

Symposium co-chairs Audrey Henderson and Gregor Feige said that they are committed to bringing the actor and National Rifle Association president to campus and are coordinating with the Symposium on Foreign Affairs, which will take place between February and April of 2002.

Heston's topic was to have been "Voices of the People or a Heavy Hand: Examining the Influence of Interest Groups."


Alice Rivlin to speak on future of D.C., other challenged cities

Economist Alice Rivlin, senior fellow in the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution, will address the topic "A Bright Future for Washington and Other Challenged Cities?" from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Johns Hopkins Club, Homewood campus.

Economist Alice Rivlin looks at the future of D.C. and other challenged cities.

Rivlin served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board from 1996 to 1999 and is a former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office. She is co-author of a new study, "Envisioning a Future Washington," which sets out a bold residential and population strategy for the District of Columbia over the next decade.

Rivlin's talk is a Social Policy Seminar, sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and the departments of Economics and of Health Policy and Management.


SAIS to host conference on national defense policy

SAIS and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College will hold a daylong conference called "The Defense Transformation Debate: The American Military at the Dawn of the 21st Century" on Friday, Oct. 5, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at SAIS's Nitze Building.

Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, is the scheduled keynote speaker. Expert panelists from academia, research organizations, government and the media will speak throughout the day. For details, go to: www.sais-jhu.edu/centers/fpi.

Members of the public must register by e-mailing cmata@mail.jhuwash.jhu.edu or downloading a registration form from the Web site.


Fall Wednesday Noon Series begins with Clio winners

A showing on Oct. 3 of the 2001 Gold, Silver and Bronze Clio Award-winning TV commercials opens the fall 2001 Wednesday Noon Series at Homewood. The Clio Awards recognize creative excellence in advertising.

The Wednesday Noon Series is presented by the Office of Special Events. All programs, free and open to the public, are held from noon to 1 p.m. in Shriver Hall.


Astronomer Royal for U.K. to give Brickwedde Lecture

For astronomers, the "big picture" is definitely starting to get clearer with increasing speed, according to Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal for the United Kingdom since 1995.

Rees will speak this week at Hopkins on recent and anticipated progress in astronomers' abilities to answer scientifically some of their most fundamental questions about the universe, such as: Where did the universe come from? How did it develop? What is it made of? How will it end? and Is it unique, or are there other universes?

Rees' lecture, titled "Our Universe and Others: From a 'Simple' Big Bang to Our Complex Cosmos," begins at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Schafler Auditorium of the Bloomberg Center, Homewood campus.

"Within the last five years, we have learned the shape of our universe and what its basic ingredients are," says Rees, who is Royal Society Research Professor and a fellow of King's College at the University of Cambridge.

Citing recent insights into the development of stars and galaxies and numerous revelations about the planetary systems circling other stars, Rees says, "This crescendo of discovery seems set to continue throughout the present decade. Fundamental questions that were formerly in the realm of speculation--the beginning of our universe, its likely end and its uniqueness, or otherwise--are now within the scope of serious science."

Rees' talk is part of the Brickwedde Lectures, an annual series funded through a bequest from Ferdinand Brickwedde and his wife, Langhorn Howard Brickwedde. Ferdinand Brickwedde received his doctorate in physics from Hopkins in 1925. Rees, the author or co-author of nearly 500 research papers on cosmology or astrophysics, is the series' 23rd speaker. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1992.


GO TO OCTOBER 1, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE HOME PAGE.