Media advisory: Drive for the Nobel Prize international symposium approaching

ATTENTION: Reporters and members of the public interested in science journalism, higher education, research and Asia

WHAT: “Drive for the Nobel Prize,” an international symposium exploring Nobel-caliber research at the University of California, Berkeley, and throughout Asia.

The program is sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

WHEN: Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. The programs are free and open to the public.

WHERE: International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave., near Memorial Stadium

WHO: Three Nobel Prize winning scientists from UC Berkeley, Japan and Taiwan will speak on the first day.

They will include: Japanese physicist Takaaki Kajita of the University of Tokyo, who received the prize in physics in 2015 for work proving that elementary particles called neutrinos have mass; Berkeley physicist Saul Perlmutter, who led one of two teams that simultaneously discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe and claimed the prize in 2011; and Yuan T. Lee, an emeritus professor at Berkeley who won the Nobel for research in particle chemistry in 1986 and the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize laureate, who today nurtures scientific talent in Taiwan.

Other participants will include leading science journalists, historians and others discussing journalism and the Nobel and the impact of the Nobel on institutions. Young researchers studying dark matter, spontaneous symmetry and materials’ “weirdness,” and species’ interactions in natural landscapes also will address the Nobel Prize’s role in a scientific network of public scholars and as an incentive in the world of research.

A member of a Nobel Prize selection committee also will make a rare public appearance.

DETAILS:

• The program schedule is available online
• Map, parking and public transit information