Nobel Prize Scientists

In this podcast, recorded at the Auberge du Soleil in California’Ŵs Napa Valley during the 2014 International Achievement Summit, three remarkable physicists engage in a group discussion of the origin and nature of the universe. Dr. Adam Riess and Dr. Saul Perlmutter were joint recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery that the expansion of the universe is not slowing, as was thought, but accelerating. Dr. Lisa Randall first attended the Academy of Achievement as a student delegate and returned in 2008 as an honoree. Her hypothesis that the larger part of the universe's gravity is hidden in an unknown dimension poses a formidable challenge to existing theories of the universe. Together, the three engage in a provocative discussion of the limits of time, space and existence.

In this podcast, recorded at the Auberge du Soleil in California’Ŵs Napa Valley during the 2014 International Achievement Summit, three remarkable physicists engage in a group discussion of the origin and nature of the universe. Dr. Adam Riess and Dr. Saul Perlmutter were joint recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery that the expansion of the universe is not slowing, as was thought, but accelerating. Dr. Lisa Randall first attended the Academy of Achievement as a student delegate and returned in 2008 as an honoree. Her hypothesis that the larger part of the universe's gravity is hidden in an unknown dimension poses a formidable challenge to existing theories of the universe. Together, the three engage in a provocative discussion of the limits of time, space and existence.

In the late 1960s, it was already known that hormones such as adrenalin, histamine, dopamine and serotonin stimulate specific responses in the cells of human beings and other organisms. But the mechanism by which cells perceive and respond to these hormones was shrouded in mystery. In 1969, Lefkowitz successfully attached a radioactive isotope of iodine to a form of the hormone adrenaline, enabling him to track its movements within an organism. By 1974, he observed the hormone interacting with a specific protein in the cell wall, the first of many such "G Protein coupled receptors" (GPCRs) he would identify in the next 15 years of groundbreaking research. In 1986, he and his associates at Duke University Medical Center succeeded in cloning and sequencing the gene for one of these receptors and found that it responds to adrenaline much as receptors in the eye register light. He has since identified a superfamily of receptor proteins that circulate back and forth through the cell wall, triggering the appropriate response to hormones and other stimuli. Roughly half of all medications in use today depend on the action of the receptors Dr. Lefkowitz discovered; they are used to treat everything from diabetes to depression. His discovery has been recognized with nearly every honor in American science, as well as the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This podcast combines excerpts from the Academy of Achievement's 2014 interview with Dr. Lefkowitz with highlights from his address to the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco.

Although he is renowned in medical circles as "the father of Viagra," the discoveries of Louis Ignarro have profound implications for all circulatory conditions, not least heart disease, the leading cause of death around the world. Nitroglycerin has been used in treating heart disease since the 1870s, but for over a century no one knew what property of the chemical causes constricted blood vessels to dilate. Ignarro determined that nitroglycerin, and other nitrates and nitrites, are metabolized as nitric oxide, relaxing the smooth muscle surface of the blood vessels, and inhibiting the growth of blood platelets. He was the first to observe that nitric oxide is a neurotransmitter mediating erectile function, a discovery that led to the creation of Viagra and other drugs for impotence, as well as nutritional supplements that improve cardiovascular health and athletic performance. Louis Ignarro embarked on his journey of discovery from humble beginnings. Born in Brooklyn, New York to working-class immigrant parents, he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998. As he told a Congressional committee, "Only in America could the son of an uneducated carpenter win the Nobel Prize in Medicine." In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, he recounts the career path that led to his groundbreaking discoveries.

Since the 1990s, Roger Tsien has revolutionized the fields of cell biology and neurobiology by designing fluorescent protein molecules to illuminate biochemical processes. The green fluorescent protein GFP, which occurs naturally in the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria, has been used in biochemical research since the 1960s, but work with GFP was long constrained by its single color and unstable light. Tsien was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a kaleidoscopic array of fluorescent molecules. When attached to other, less visible proteins, they enable scientists to track multiple biochemical processes simultaneously. As a teenager, the New York-born Tsien won first prize in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and earned his Ph.D. in physiology at Cambridge University. Since 1989 he has been a professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 1994, Tsien identified a single-point mutation of the natural GFP molecule that produced a more stable and intense light, with greater variability in color, a discovery he reported in the Journal Nature. Over the next decade, he produced variants of GFP in a full spectrum of colors. His molecules are used in surgery and in Alzheimer's and cancer research. He was a co-founder of Aurora Biosciences Corporation, later acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals for roughly $600 million. In this podcast, recorded at the Top of the Hay, Hay-Adams Hotel, in Washington, D.C., during the 2012 International Achievement Summit, Dr. Tsien discusses the role of motivation and creativity in relation to his work building artificial molecules.

The Big Bang theory proposes that the universe we know emerged from a uniformly hot and impenetrable mass of protons, electrons and radiation. But until recently, we knew very little of the first stages of the 13 billion year process in which our cosmos took shape. In 1974, a young astrophysicist, John Mather of Columbia University's Goddard Center for Space Studies, devised a proposal for a satellite, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), to measure the microwave background radiation in space. From temperature variations in the radiation emanating from different points in the universe, he hoped to trace the paths of the infant galaxies from their starting point. Mather persuaded NASA to undertake the mission, and was hired by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to guide the project. For the next decade and a half, Mather led a team of over 1,000 scientists and engineers, designing and building the exquisitely calibrated instruments such an experiment required. In 1989, COBE was launched into space. By 1992, Mather had found what he was looking for: cool trails etched in the otherwise uniform background, precisely the 'blackbody' patterns predicted by the Big Bang theory. Mather's discovery has been hailed as 'the missing link in cosmology.' The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Mather for elevating cosmology to a precision science, and honored his achievement with the Nobel Prize. Adam Riess was a doctoral candidate in astrophysics at Harvard when he devised a more accurate method for measuring the position of the exploding 'white dwarf' stars known as Type 1a supernovae. In 1998, he joined the High-Z Supernova Search Team, an international effort monitoring Type 1a supernovae to measure the expansion rate of the universe. Physicists long believed that the expansion of the universe was gradually slowing. Riess and his colleagues determined that the stars are, in fact, moving outward at an ever more rapid rate. The expansion of the universe is not slowing, but accelerating. This momentous discovery has spurred a massive surge of research in the 'dark energy' that propels this expansion. In honoring 41-year-old Adam Riess with the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, the Swedish Academy noted that the field of cosmology had been 'shaken at its foundation' by his discoveries. In this podcast, John Mather and Adam Riess, discuss the past and future of the universe and the theory of dark energy. It was recorded at the Top of the Hay in the Hay-Adams Hotel, during the 2012 International Achievement Summit in Washington D.C.

The Big Bang theory proposes that the universe we know emerged from a uniformly hot and impenetrable mass of protons, electrons and radiation. But until recently, we knew very little of the first stages of the 13 billion year process in which our cosmos took shape. In 1974, a young astrophysicist, John Mather of Columbia University's Goddard Center for Space Studies, devised a proposal for a satellite, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), to measure the microwave background radiation in space. From temperature variations in the radiation emanating from different points in the universe, he hoped to trace the paths of the infant galaxies from their starting point. Mather persuaded NASA to undertake the mission, and was hired by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to guide the project. For the next decade and a half, Mather led a team of over 1,000 scientists and engineers, designing and building the exquisitely calibrated instruments such an experiment required. In 1989, COBE was launched into space. By 1992, Mather had found what he was looking for: cool trails etched in the otherwise uniform background, precisely the 'blackbody' patterns predicted by the Big Bang theory. Mather's discovery has been hailed as 'the missing link in cosmology.' The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised Mather for elevating cosmology to a precision science, and honored his achievement with the Nobel Prize. Adam Riess was a doctoral candidate in astrophysics at Harvard when he devised a more accurate method for measuring the position of the exploding 'white dwarf' stars known as Type 1a supernovae. In 1998, he joined the High-Z Supernova Search Team, an international effort monitoring Type 1a supernovae to measure the expansion rate of the universe. Physicists long believed that the expansion of the universe was gradually slowing. Riess and his colleagues determined that the stars are, in fact, moving outward at an ever more rapid rate. The expansion of the universe is not slowing, but accelerating. This momentous discovery has spurred a massive surge of research in the 'dark energy' that propels this expansion. In honoring 41-year-old Adam Riess with the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, the Swedish Academy noted that the field of cosmology had been 'shaken at its foundation' by his discoveries. In this podcast, John Mather and Adam Riess, discuss the past and future of the universe and the theory of dark energy. It was recorded at the Top of the Hay in the Hay-Adams Hotel, during the 2012 International Achievement Summit in Washington D.C.

Dr. Steven Chu is the United States Secretary of Energy. A distinguished scientist, he received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light. Prior to his appointment by President Barack Obama in 2009, he was professor of physics, and of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His recent research has been concerned with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. Born in St. Louis, Missouri to a family with a history of academic and scientific accomplishment, he earned undergraduate degrees in math and physics from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His Nobel Prize research was carried out at Bell Labs; he taught at Stanford University before assuming his posts in Berkeley. Under Dr. Chu's leadership, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a center of research into biofuels and solar energy technologies. He has been an outspoken advocate for expanded research in alternative energy technology, and has long argued that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combating climate change. As Secretary of Energy, Dr. Chu is charged with implementing President Obama's agenda to invest in clean energy, reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil, address the global climate crisis, and create millions of "clean energy" jobs. He addressed the Academy of Achievement at its 2010 Summit in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Steven Chu is the United States Secretary of Energy. A distinguished scientist, he received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light. Prior to his appointment by President Barack Obama in 2009, he was professor of physics, and of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His recent research has been concerned with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. Born in St. Louis, Missouri to a family with a history of academic and scientific accomplishment, he earned undergraduate degrees in math and physics from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His Nobel Prize research was carried out at Bell Labs; he taught at Stanford University before assuming his posts in Berkeley. Under Dr. Chu's leadership, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a center of research into biofuels and solar energy technologies. He has been an outspoken advocate for expanded research in alternative energy technology, and has long argued that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combating climate change. As Secretary of Energy, Dr. Chu is charged with implementing President Obama's agenda to invest in clean energy, reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil, address the global climate crisis, and create millions of "clean energy" jobs. He addressed the Academy of Achievement at its 2010 Summit in Washington, D.C.

In an era of global economic turmoil, policymakers and ordinary citizens around the world are turning to the writings of Professor Joseph Stiglitz. Virtually alone among economic oracles, Stiglitz predicted as early as 2006 that the bubble in U.S. home prices would lead to a credit crisis and global recession. Stiglitz has held professorships at Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Oxford and is now University Professor at Columbia. He served in President Clinton’Ŵs cabinet and as Chief Economist to the World Bank, a post he resigned after dissenting from the bank’Ŵs policies in developing countries. Stiglitz received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics for his revolutionary analysis of the role ’źasymmetric information’Ź plays in market behavior. He pioneered the field of ’źinformation economics’Ź which offers new approaches to problems ranging from unemployment to international development and climate change. His prescient ideas have won a vast international following through books such as the bestseller Globalization and Its Discontents. This two-part podcast was recorded in the Boulders Lodge of the Singita Sabi Sands Game Reserve during the 2009 International Achievement Summit. Dr. Stiglitz leads an in-depth discussion of the ongoing international economic crisis. He traces its origins and shares his ideas for potential remedies.