Lee Smolin Named 2009 AAPT Klopsteg Memorial Award Recipient
DOI: 10.1063/PT.4.1641
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Park, Maryland, United States, March 25, 2009
Dr. Lee Smolin, a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada and Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo, is the 2009 recipient of the Klopsteg Memorial Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Klopsteg awardees are chosen for their extraordinary accomplishments in communicating the excitement of physics to the general public. The Klopsteg awardee presents a lecture on a physics topic of current significance suitable for non-specialists, in memory of Paul Klopsteg, AAPT Past President. Dr. Smolin will receive the award at the 2009 AAPT Summer Meeting in Ann Arbor, MI.
“Lee Smolin, a founding member and research physicist at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo Canada, is well known as a popular author and lecturer, and for his many world-wide appearances on television and radio. For his outstanding contributions in the communication of the excitement of contemporary physics to the general public, the awards committee is proud to present the Klopsteg Memorial Award,” says Lila Adair, AAPT Awards Chair, and 2009 AAPT Past President.
Dr. Smolin has written three books, The Life of the Cosmos (1977), Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2001), and The Trouble with Physics (2006), which explore the philosophical ramifications of developments in contemporary physics and cosmology.
Dr. Smolin has also authored more than 140 scientific papers and has made major contributions to the quantum theory of gravity, being a co-inventor of loop quantum gravity and deformed special relativity. He is well known for his work in cosmology and is the inventor of a theory called cosmological natural selection, which applies a Darwinian methodology to the question of how the laws of physics are chosen. He also has research interests in elementary particle physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, astrophysics, theoretical biology and economics.
AAPT is the leading organization for physics teachers and physics education and provides services that help enhance teaching skills and publishes scholarly journals documenting best teaching practices. APPT is committed to providing the most current resources and up-to-date research needed to enhance a physics educator’s professional development. The results are not only a deeper appreciation of the teaching profession, but most importantly, more enthusiastic involvement from their students.
About the Award
Established in 1990, this award is given to a notable physicist in memory of Paul Klopsteg. The Klopsteg Memorial Award recipient is asked to make a major presentation at an AAPT Summer Meeting on a topic of current significance suitable for non-specialists.
Previous Awardees: 2008 Michio Kaku, Henry Semat Professor at the City college of New York2007 Neil deGrasse Tyson, Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, New York2006 Lisa Randall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,2005 Wendy Freedman, Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA2004 Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, Austriawww.aapt.org/Grants/klopsteg.cfm
About AAPT
AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists--with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.
For more information: Contact Marilyn Gardner, Director of Communications, mgardner@aapt.org, (301) 209-3306, (301) 209-0845 (Fax), www.aapt.org.
Dr. Lee Smolin, a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada and Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo, is the 2009 recipient of the Klopsteg Memorial Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Klopsteg awardees are chosen for their extraordinary accomplishments in communicating the excitement of physics to the general public. The Klopsteg awardee presents a lecture on a physics topic of current significance suitable for non-specialists, in memory of Paul Klopsteg, AAPT Past President. Dr. Smolin will receive the award at the 2009 AAPT Summer Meeting in Ann Arbor, MI.
