Berkeley’s Nobel tradition
This year’s Nobel Prize in economics marks the 18th time a Berkeley scholar has been named a Nobel Laureate

17 October 2001 | The announcement of George Akerlof’s Nobel Prize in economics is historic — coming as it does a year after Berkeley economist Daniel McFadden won the prize and as the campus celebrates the 100th birthday of the late Ernest O. Lawrence, its first Nobelist.

As Chancellor Berdahl noted at a campus press conference last week announcing its latest laureate, Lawrence’s prize in physics in 1939 was “the first Nobel Prize ever awarded a faculty member of a public university in America, and today we’re celebrating the most recent Nobel Prize awarded to a faculty member of a public university in America.”

There have been 18 Nobel winners in all at Berkeley. Here is an introduction to these scholars and the accomplishments honored by the Nobel committee.

Ernest O. Lawrence Ernest O. Lawrence Physics, 1939 In 1930, at the age of 29, Ernest O. Lawrence unlocked the gates to the world of the atom with his invention of the cyclotron — an ingenious tool destined to become as important to nuclear science as Galileo’s telescope was to astronomy. Lawrence also invented a new way of doing science. His brilliance and willingness to share his discoveries attracted the brightest young scientists of the time to Berkeley. His personal credo was that there was enough research for all, and he rejoiced in the success of others as in his own. John Northrop, Wendell Stanley John Northrop, Wendell Stanley Chemistry, 1946 Two Berkeley chemists, John Howard Northrop and Wendell Stanley, made breakthrough discoveries about the workings of the human body. Northrop isolated a pure enzyme for the first time in history. Stanley’s great accomplishment was isolating a virus. These discoveries paved the way for such profound achievements as the conquest of polio and charting the human genome. William Giauque William Giauque Chemistry, 1949 For more than a century, scientists agreed that absolute zero, minus 459.688 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale, was impossible to reach. No one had come closer than minus 458 degrees to realizing it . But William Giauque was undeterred. In 1933, after countless hours in the laboratory, he reached below the minus 458 mark using a magnetic refrigeration system he had invented. Giauque’s trailblazing work proved one of the most basic laws of nature and led to stronger steel, better gasoline, and more efficient processes in a score of industries. Edwin McMillan, Glenn Seaborg Edwin McMillan, Glenn Seaborg Chemistry, 1951 A key member of Lawrence’s Rad Lab team, chemist Edwin McMillan searched for an element heavier than uranium. In 1940, he discovered neptunium. Later, Glenn Seaborg, a young chemist who also worked in Lawrence’s laboratory, continued McMillan’s studies on the transuranium elements. In 1942, Sea-borg discovered plutonium, a highly radioactive element. Seaborg and his co-workers went on to discover eight more rare-earth elements and a host of valuable medical isotopes, including iodine-131, which was used to prolong his own mother’s life. Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segrè Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segrè Physics, 1959 In the period following World War II, the existence of the anti-proton, the atomic particle that would prove nature’s symmetry, still eluded scientists. In 1955, using Berkeley’s powerful new atom smasher, Owen Chamberlain and Emilio Segrè discovered the anti-proton. This discovery signaled a major leap in the study of matter and anti-matter. Donald Glaser Donald Glaser Physics, 1960 In particle physics, as elsewhere, a picture is worth a thousand words. During the early 1950s, physicist Donald Glaser had this in mind when he noticed the track left by a stream of bubbles in a bottle of beer. This serendipitous event led to the invention of the bubble chamber, a tool second only in importance to Lawrence’s cyclotron. Glaser’s invention allowed scientists to track the movement of atomic particles and marked an important step in the exploration of the structure of matter. Melvin Calvin Melvin Calvin Chemistry, 1961 Chemist Melvin Calvin explored life’s processes using the carbon-14 isotope discovered in Lawrence’s cyclotron. After a long and complex search, Calvin revealed the complete path of carbon in photosynthesis to explain how plants convert sunlight to food. He went on to develop a leading center for the study of cancer, the brain, solar energy, and the origins of life by incorporating the interdisciplinary style of Lawrence’s radiation laboratory. Charles Townes Charles Townes Physics, 1964 Physicist Charles Townes began his research into the properties of light after designing radar systems during World War II. Working with his brother-in-law, Townes conceived the idea for amplifying light into an intense beam that could penetrate the hardest materials on earth. This led to the development of the laser, a tool that has revolutionized industry, medicine, communications and astronomy. Luis Alvarez Luis Alvarez Physics, 1968 The newly invented bubble chamber captured the imagination of scientist Luis Alvarez, who recognized its great value to physics and set out to improve its design. He substituted hydrogen for ether, which produced a clearer track of speeding particles. This hydrogen bubble chamber vastly increased our knowledge of the atom, and changed the course of nuclear science. Czeslaw Milosz Czeslaw Milosz Literature, 1980 Poet and man of letters Czeslaw Milosz became the campus’s first laureate in a nonscientific field. Born in Lithuania in 1911, he lived in the vortex of 20th century history. Milosz’ themes include lost homelands, the search for identity and political repression. The Nobel committee cited the Berkeley professor of Slavic languages and literature as a writer who, “with uncompromising clear-sightedness, voices man’s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.” Gerard Debreu Gerard Debreu Economics, 1983 In a decentralized market, self-interest guides consumers in the choices they make. Economist Gerard Debreu’s elegant mathematical models provided the theoretical structure to explain the law of supply and demand. Through the work of Debreu and others, the conditions of the “invisible hand” in the markeplace were clarified. Yuan T. Lee Yuan T. Lee Chemistry, 1986 Many years after Charles Townes won a Nobel for his research laying the groundwork for the laser, Yuan Lee took that work steps further. Lee’s designs and experiments with molecular beam devices sent streams of intensely packed molecules into each other at supersonic speeds. Scientists were then able to view chemical reactions and discover how and why they take place. This knowledge has contributed to today’s powerful lasers. John Harsanyi John Harsanyi Economics, 1994 It was the hope of economist John Harsanyi that his research could improve social welfare and lead to world peace. In this quest, Harsanyi expanded the application of game theory — a mathematical theory of human behavior in competitive situations — to economic and political conflicts such as arms control. Harsanyi’s contribution to game theory would address the prediction of outcomes in games or circumstances in which players lack complete information about each other or the rules of the gae. Daniel McFadden Daniel McFadden Economics, 2000 A deep interest in social welfare drives Daniel McFadden’s pioneering research. McFadden ushered Berkeley’s Nobel tradition into the 21st century when his econometric methods for studying behavioral patterns in individual decision-making were recognized. Applications of McFadden’s statistical tools include predicting BART’s initial ridership and measuring the economic damage to individuals from an oil spill. George Akerlof George Akerlof Economics, 2001 Macroeconomist George Akerlof broke with established economic theory in illustrating how markets malfunction when buyers and sellers have access to different information. He explored this idea in a landmark 1970 study on the role of asymmetric information in the market for “lemon” used cars. The work has had far-reaching applications in such diverse areas as health insurance, financial markets, employment contracts and unemployment.

– Development Communications prepared the original text on which these summaries are based.