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Nobel laureate to deliver 2003 Pardee Center lectures
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Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann joins the Frederick S. Pardee Center
for the Study of the Longer-Range Future as a visiting professor this
spring, succeeding Amartya Sen, the center’s first visiting professor
of future studies. Gell-Mann received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics
for his “eightfold way theory,” which brought order out of
the chaos created by the discovery of some 100 particles within the atom’s
nucleus. Perhaps his greatest contribution, however, was his conclusion
that all of these particles, including the neutron and proton, are composed
of fundamental building blocks, which he dubbed “quarks.”
Gell-Mann’s interests extend far beyond theoretical physics. He
has explored topics such as archaeology, linguistics, evolution, and complex
adaptive systems. In his popular book The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures
in the Simple and the Complex, he finds connections between the “simple”
laws of elementary particles and complex phenomena such as a prowling
jaguar, avalanche mechanics, and Gilbert and Sullivan.
As visiting professor, Gell-Mann will study a research topic of his choosing
related to the center’s mission, and report his conclusions in a
series of lectures and meetings with faculty, students, futurists, and
other audiences. “Dr. Gell-Mann has peered deeply into the interior
of nature, and has come back to explain it to us,” says David Fromkin,
director of the Pardee Center. “At the same time he has blazed a
trail, he has offered guidance in undertaking complex inquiries. We are
grateful to the generosity of Frederick S. Pardee and proud of the distinguished
lecture series which brings Dr. Gell-Mann to us.”
Murray Gell-Mann will deliver the 2003 Pardee distinguished lecture series,
entitled Regularities and Randomness in the Past and the Future, on Monday,
April 14, and Tuesday, April 15, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the School of
Management Auditorium. A public reception will follow each lecture in
the SMG atrium. RSVP by April 7 to 358-4000.
28
March 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations