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P E O P L E
Spotlight
Name: Tom Quirk.
Position: Conference coordinator in the Center for
Visitors and Conference Services. Helping University
departments and outside groups plan conferences, seminars
and special events on campus. Coordinating logistics with
vendors, equipment and facilities. Spending time with video
crews that are shooting on campus.
Quote: "In some sense, our office is a gateway for
people to be introduced to the University. It's nice to have
the opportunity to show them what's great about this
place."
Other interests: A 2000 Princeton graduate in
anthropology, he enjoys playing the violin.
Briefs
Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt, whose work
has helped shape the current theory of the origin of the
universe, has been named a co-recipient of the 2002 Dirac
Medal.
The Abdus Salam International Centre for
Theoretical Physics awarded the medal to Steinhardt and
colleagues Alan Guth of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Andre Linde of Stanford University. The three
established and refined a theory known as "inflation" to
describe a period of hyperfast expansion that occurred for a
fraction of a second shortly after the Big Bang.
The theory has proven to be remarkably
effective in explaining observations about the universe that
could not be accounted for under the original Big Bang
theory. In particular, it provides a theoretical explanation
for slight fluctuations that are observed in the background
radiation of the universe.
The Dirac Medal is awarded annually to
honor "significant contributions to theoretical physics and
mathematics," according to the citation from the Abdus Salam
center. The center, located in Trieste, Italy, established
the award in 1985 in honor of the English physicist Paul
Dirac. Medalists receive a $5,000 prize. The 2001 winner was
Princeton biophysicist John Hopfield.
Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam University
Professor of History, has been awarded the Balzan Prize for
his work on the history of the humanities. The International
Balzan Foundation, which awards the prize, recognizes four
scholars each year for scientific and academic
excellence.
Grafton was selected "for his outstanding
work on the history of scholarship, especially of the
classical tradition in European intellectual history since
the Renaissance, including the history of the evolution of
scholarly practices, techniques and attitudes, and the links
between humanist learning and the development of modern
science."
The Balzan Prizes are designed to
encourage young academics, scientists and researchers.
Winners receive 1 million Swiss francs, which is equivalent
to $667,000. Each winner is expected to earmark half the
money for further research to be carried out by young
scientists or academics.
Since 1961 the foundation has awarded
prizes to 87 scientists, academics and thinkers. Previous
winners include Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentinean writer
and scholar; Charles Gillispie, the American
historian and philosopher of science who is Princeton's
Dayton Stockton Professor of History Emeritus; and Sir
Martin West, one of Britain's leading classicists.
Michael Doran, assistant professor of Near Eastern
studies at Princeton, has been selected as the first Sherman
Scholar by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
Doran will present a lecture on Oct. 24 in Wilmington on
"Israel Between the United States and the Arabs."
The Sherman Scholar is part of the newly
created Virginia and Derrick Sherman Emerging Scholars
Lecture Series, which provides a platform for emerging
scholars to present perspectives, research, concepts and
approaches to modern issues and theories in history,
politics and international affairs.
As part of the lecture series, Doran will
participate in faculty seminars and classroom presentations.
The Sherman Scholar receives a $5,000 honorarium.
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September 30, 2002
Vol. 92, No. 4
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Contents
Page one
•Committee proposes
program for four-year residential colleges
•Pioneer of modern
genetics named director of institute
Inside
•Carl A. Fields Center
for Equality and Cultural Understanding
dedicated
•Library acquires
Arabic calligraphy collection to add to extensive
holding
•Budding journalists
report successful experience
People
•New
director, scholars join Society of
Fellows
•Council celebrates
golden anniversary with sterling
faculty
•Spotlight,
briefs
From HR
•Annual retiree open
enrollment is Oct. 7-Nov. 1
Sections
•Nassau
Notes
•Calendar of
events
•By the
numbers
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Editor: Ruth Stevens
Calendar editor: Carolyn Geller
Staff writers: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann, Steven Schultz
Contributing writers: Marilyn Marks, Evelyn Tu
Photographer: Denise Applewhite
Design: Mahlon Lovett, Laurel Masten Cantor, Margaret
Westergaard
Web edition: Mahlon Lovett
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