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SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University will
be hosting a lecture series this fall that highlights the lives
of seminal scientists while describing their discoveries for a
nontechnical audience. The impact of their discoveries on society
will also be addressed. The lecture series was organized by the
Science and Technology Committee of the OLLI program. It will
be held on ten Mondays from 10:30 -12:00 p.m. Topics include:
Michael Faraday & the Age of Electricity
– An account of how the evolution of knowledge about static
electricity and electric currents led to an understanding of electro-magnetism,
which is the foundation of our modern electrical age. The central
role of Michael Faraday in this achievement will be outlined.
Kary Mullis & Polymerase Chain Reactions
– Kary B. Mullis, who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in chemistry
for his ground-breaking work on the polymerase chain reaction
(PCR), is not your textbook image of a scientist. Sometimes called
“The Nobel Dude,” he entitled his autobiography,
Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, and was considered too controversial
to be an expert witness on DNA analysis in the O.J. Simpson trial.
However controversial his personal life, his procedure is now
indispensable in, among other applications, DNA “fingerprinting,”
functional analysis of genes, diagnosis of hereditary diseases,
and the detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases.
Crystal Power: Imaging Salt, Tartrate, Enzymes & Ribosomes
for Fun and Medicine – Medical X-ray imaging generally
gives us “shadows” cast by denser matter in our bodies.
Diffraction is a different process that provides true three-dimensional
images of unparalleled quality. Such images are now used routinely
to understand and develop new pharmaceutical agents.
Superconductivity & Its Applications –
The 1972 Nobel Prize in physics went to John Bardeen, Leon Neil
Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer for their elucidation of superconductivity,
in which there is no resistance to the flow of electric current
in certain materials under certain conditions. The so-called BCS
Theory provides the starting pint for such applications as magnetic
levitation of trains, MRI and NMR imaging equipment, and operation
of particle accelerators.
Making Sense of Dark Matter & Dark Energy –
In the past few years our assessment of the basic mass and energy
components in the universe has gone through a radical revision.
It now appears that only 10% of the mass is in a conventional
form that we actually understand. More shocking is the fact that
the accelerating expansion of the universe implies a component
of “dark energy” that was almost completely unanticipated.
Participants will discuss the evidence for dark matter and dark
energy, and the people who have contributed to these discoveries.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance from Protons to Patients –
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was first demonstrated in the
early 1940s. Since that time the technique has become a standard
tool enabling scientists to determine complex chemical structures.
In 1973, Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield demonstrated that
NMR could be used to make images of the water protons in tissues.
Thus the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was born. Professsor
Lauterbur, a chemist, and Professor Mansfield, a physicist, subsequently
received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery,
a discovery which has revolutionized modern clinical medicine.
This talk will explain the principles and demonstrate some current
applications of MRI.
P.A.M. Dirac’s Impact on Pure & Applied Science
– Paul Dirac was not as well known as the other founding
fathers of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, but his contributions
were equally important, and he won the Nobel Prize at the same
time as Heisenberg and Schrodinger. The talk will describe Dirac’s
life and his work (with few equations) and give an account of
the medical imaging technology that utilizes the electron’s
antiparticle which Dirac’s theory predicted.
Paul Berg & Recombinant DNA – Paul
Berg, the first scientist to create a DNA molecule incorporating
genetic material from two different species, won the 1980 Nobel
Prize in chemistry for this achievement that laid the foundations
for such fields as monoclonal antibody production, hybrid microorganisms
that synthesize targeted proteins, and genetically modified crops.
Berg also foresaw, and tried to address, possible safety and ethical
problems that might arise from these activities.
Einstein, Relativity & the World’s Most Famous
Equation – How did Einstein’s insights about
space and time lead to E=mc2, and what does the equation really
mean?
Where Did It All Come From? A Scientist Looks Back
– A personal account of a long journey, still in progress,
of a life in science.
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