Media Contacts:
Dr. Robert A. Egler, Physics Dept., 919/515-7842
Paul K. Mueller, News Services, 919/515-3470

Oct. 29, 2003

Nobel Laureate Explores Time in Annual Thomas Lecture

Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail, 1999 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, will deliver the annual Thomas Lecture

Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail, 1999 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and Linus Pauling Chair professor of chemistry and professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), will deliver the annual L.H. Thomas Lecture at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in the auditorium of Riddick Engineering Labs on the North Carolina State University campus. Zewail will address “Time – Its Miracles and Mysteries.”

The media are invited to attend.

The lecture, followed by a reception in the auditorium lobby, is free and open to the public. It is named for the late Dr. Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas, a professor of physics at NC State, a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Thomas, who joined NC State in 1968, died in 1992.

In a synopsis of his talk, Zewail explained that time’s mysteries can lead to new avenues of research and discovery. “Ever since the beginning of history, humankind has been the beneficiary of time’s miracles,” he said. “But, at the same time, people have been baffled by time’s mysteries. In this lecture, we will overview some aspects of time and history, taking it from the calendars to the world of split seconds, to a millionth of a billionth of a second. This ‘freezing’ of time opens up new vistas in fundamental research and in applied technology.”

Zewail serves as director of the National Science Foundation’s Laboratory for Molecular Sciences at Caltech and is a fellow of the American Physical Society, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, among other professional organizations. His honors include the Robert A. Welch Prize, the Wolf Prize, the King Faisal Prize and the Benjamin Franklin Medal, among others.

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