Stanford Pioneers in Science [videorecording]

Press releasess

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Press release on series 2008 Oct 15

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Kenneth Arrow 2009 Apr 15

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Paul Berg 2009 May 20

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Carl Djerassi 2009 Jan 14

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Sidney Drell 2008 Oct 21

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Daphne Koller 2009 Feb 11

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Burton Richter 2009 Mar 4

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Robert Sapolsky 2008 Nov 12

Video recordings

Video recordings

view online item

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Kenneth Arrow on economics 2009 Apr 15

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

Biographical / Historical

Kenneth Arrow is one of the most respected and admired living economists in the world. He is the winner of both a Nobel Prize in Economics (1972) and a National Medal of Science (2004). A pioneer in the application of mathematics to the science of economics, his theory of economic equilibrium and his welfare theory provide the foundations for much of the practice of economics today. Arrow’s early research leading to a systematic understanding of the values and limitations of private enterprise earned him a Nobel Prize at age 51, the youngest person at that time to have received such an honor. His research on decision-making based on imperfect information and risk earned him the National Medal of Science.

He has made extraordinary contributions to the understanding of how groups and whole societies make decisions in the face of incomplete information. One of his most important contributions to welfare theory is the Arrow Impossibility Theorem, which postulates that it is impossible to construct a social welfare function out of individual preference functions. That early work on equilibrium still stands as one of the reasons many economists oppose price controls today. His current research is in the areas of environment and growth, equilibrium under monopolistic competition, and income distribution.

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Carl Djerassi on chemistry 2009 Jan 14

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Sidney Drell on international security 2008 Oct 21

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Daphne Koller on artificial intelligence 2009 Feb 11

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Burton Richter on physics 2009 Mar 4

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Robert Sapolsky on stress 2008 Nov 12

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Kenneth Arrow on economics 2009 Apr 15

Physical Description: 4 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Carl Djerassi on chemistry 2009 Jan 14

Physical Description: 4 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Sidney Drell on international security 2008 Oct 21

Physical Description: 4 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Daphne Koller on artificial intelligence 2009 Feb 11

Physical Description: 3 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Burton Richter on physics 2009 Mar 4

Physical Description: 4 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Robert Sapolsky on stress 2008 Nov 12

Physical Description: 4 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Paul Berg on genetics 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

Paul Berg has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the National Medal of Science, the Lasker Award, and many other international prizes for research that laid the groundwork in recombinant DNA technology and the biotechnology revolution that followed. A biochemist, Dr. Berg was one of the principal pioneers in gene splicing. He shared the 1980 Nobel Prize for developing methods that made it possible to map the structure and function of DNA. According to The New York Times, his work has had a revolutionary impact on the understanding of the genetics of all living things and on the ability to manipulate the genetic material of cells from any species.

Dr. Berg’s role in articulating social and political policy related to genetics has been nearly as influential as his scientific research. In 1975 he led the scientific community’s self-imposed moratorium on recombinant DNA experimentation to allow researchers time to assess the potential risk factors in this area. He also served as chair of the National Advisory Committee of the Human Genome Project.

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Stanley N. Cohen on Genes and Genetics 2010 Mar 10

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

As a boy in New Jersey, Stanley Cohen was interested in atomic physics, but a biology teacher in high school inspired his interest in genetics. He went on to study biology at Rutgers, and received an MD degree at Penn. In 1968, Cohen came to Stanford, and in 1973, he and Herbert Boyer at UCSF invented the technique of DNA cloning, which allowed genes to be transplanted between different biological species. Their discovery was revolutionary, signaling the birth of genetic engineering, and fueling the growth of the entire biotech industry.

Cohen and his team are currently studying mechanisms by which viruses and bacteria exploit genes and genetic pathways of host cells in order to produce disease. His numerous honors and awards include the National Medal of Science, the National Medal of Technology, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, and the Wolfe Prize in Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and is past president of the San Francisco Bay Area Society of Medical Friends of Wine.

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Carl Djerassi on chemistry 2009 Jan 14

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

CARL DJERASSI Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus

Carl Djerassi is known as the father of the birth control pill, developer of insect controls and antihistamines, founder of biomedical companies, educator, and internationally bestselling novelist. Born in Vienna, he moved to the United States as a youngster, graduating from Kenyon College and receiving a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. A Professor of Chemistry at Stanford since 1959, he also was President of Syntex Research and co-founder and CEO of Zoecon Corporation, a company dedicated to developing novel approaches to insect control.

Djerassi has been awarded the Perkin Medal, the Priestly Medal, the National Medal of Technology, and the National Medal of Science (by President Nixon, in spite of being on his "enemies list" at the time). A major art collector, Djerassi also founded the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, and is the author of seven novels (the best known of which are Cantor's Dilemma and The Bourbaki Gambit) and four plays.

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Sidney Drell on international security 2008 Oct 21

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

SIDNEY DRELL Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center; Hoover Institution Senior Fellow

Sidney Drell won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1984 for his work in theoretical physics and international arms control. He has been a senior adviser to both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government on national security and defense issues for more than four decades. In 2000 he received the Enrico Fermi Award, the nation’s oldest award in science and technology, for a lifetime of achievement in the field of nuclear energy. Also in 2000 Drell was one of ten scientists honored as “founders of national reconnaissance as a space discipline” by the US National Reconnaissance Office.

Drell's professional achievements and their impacts on society will be described in a 20-minute presentation by Philip Taubman, Stanford's Associate Vice President for University Affairs and former Deputy Editor of The New York Times, who has specialized in intelligence issues and national security affairs during his twenty-eight years at the paper. He is the author of Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America’s Space Espionage.

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William H. Durham on human biology 2009 Nov 4

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

In addition to being a “rock star” teacher of undergraduates at Stanford and a favorite faculty leader of Alumni Travel/Study excursions, Bill Durham is an internationally acclaimed human ecologist. His major contributions have been in the theory of coevolution in human populations, in the causes of scarcity and environmental degradation in Latin America, and in the dual challenges of conservation and community development in the tropics. He won a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (“genius grant”) in 1983, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim, Danforth, and National Science foundations.

Durham’s 1991 book, Coevolution: Genes, Cultural, and Human Diversity, has been called “one of the most important works of theory ever written by an anthropologist.” A creator of the coevolutionary approach to human diversity, Durham regards genes and culture as two parallel but distinct forms of information inheritance in human populations. Among Durham’s specialties is indigenous ecotourism, and his contributions to this field include co-founding the Center for Responsible Travel, and establishing a series of Field Seminars in the Stanford Alumni Travel/Study Program.

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Daphne Koller on artificial intelligence 2009 Feb 11

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

DAPHNE KOLLER Professor of Computer Science

Daphne Koller won a 2004 MacArthur Fellowship for her creativity in the area of artificial intelligence. Her research on Bayesian methods, a once obscure branch of probability theory, has been called by Technology Review "one of the 10 emerging technologies that will change your world" because of the potential it offers for machines to understand the world and make accurate predictions using incomplete knowledge. This past April she was awarded the first-ever $150,000 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award for making computers "intelligent." She also was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at the White House in 1999. She received a PhD from Stanford where she earned the Computer Science Department's award for the best thesis in 1994.

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Roger D. Kornberg on scientific discovery 2010 May 12

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

Roger Kornberg, the biochemist won a 2006 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering how DNA is converted in RNA. His work showed how genes communicate the information needed to make proteins, how cells express all of the information in the human genome, and how that expression sometimes goes awry, leading to cancer, birth defects, and other disorders. Forty-seven years earlier his father, Arthur Kornbeg, also won a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work with DNA.)

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Douglas Osheroff on the state of science research and education 2010 Feb 3

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

While in graduate school, he and his colleagues discovered the superfluidity in helium-3, a breakthrough for which he won a Nobel Prize. In fact, he was one of the first people in history to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for work done as a graduate student.

A Professor of Physics at Stanford since 1987, Osheroff has also won teaching awards and has served on many scientific committees, including the NASA panel investigating the cause of the space shuttle Columbia’s disastrous explosion. His work on that Panel proved that a long-standing NASA scientific theory had been incorrect, which turned out to be a major cause of the accident.

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Burton Richter on physics 2009 Mar 4

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

BURTON RICHTER Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences, Emeritus; Senior Fellow in Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Director, Emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Burton Richter was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind." A recipient of many other awards and honors, his most recent award was the 2007 Philip Hauge Abelson Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for his world-class contributions to research, his successful management of a leading scientific laboratory, and his unrelenting efforts to advance science and to promote its responsible use in shaping public policy." Long an advocate for international collaboration in "big science," Richter has spent an increasing amount of time during the past quarter century advocating the need for scientifically informed and responsible public policy at national and international levels.

Professor Richter joined the Stanford faculty in 1963, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has authored more than 300 publications in high-energy physics, accelerators, and colliding beam systems, and has chaired many international scientific committees to promote international cooperation in "big science."

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Robert Sapolsky on stress 2008 Nov 12

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

ROBERT SAPOLSKY The John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biological Sciences and Neurology

Robert Sapolsky won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1987 for his creative breakthrough in understanding how the brain works, and in particular how prolonged stress can cause both physical and mental health problems. Author of seven bestselling books including A Primate’s Memoir and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, he has made annual trips to Africa for the past twenty three years to study a population of wild baboons and the relationships between their personalities and patterns of stress-related diseases. One of the nation’s top biologists, he is also a wry humanist, and reminds us: “If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you’re in trouble.”

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William F. Sharpe on finance 2009 Oct 7

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

William F. Sharpe, STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus, Graduate School of Business

Sharpe received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990 for his contributions to the theory of price formation for financial assets, the so-called Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The CAPM is considered the backbone of modern price theory for financial markets. It is also widely used in empirical analysis and applied extensively in practical research, and has thus become an important basis for decision-making in many areas. Sharpe is also responsible for developing the Sharpe Ratio for investment performance analysis, the binomial method for the valuation of options, the gradient method for asset allocation optimization, and returns-based style analysis for evaluating the performance of investment funds. The fields of financial economics and investment have both been dramatically transformed by Sharpe’s theories and models.

He has written hundreds of articles and seven books on financial markets and investing. He received a PhD from UCLA, is the recipient of several honorary doctorates, and is past president of the American Finance Association. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1970.

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Patrick Suppes on philosophy 2010 Apr 21

Physical Description: 1 optical disc(s) (dvd)

Biographical / Historical

Patrick Suppes, the philosopher, educator, and statistician won the National Medal of Science for his contributions to the philosophy of science, theory of measurement, foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psychology, and educational technology. The “father of distance education,” Suppes’ research in the 1960’s using computers to teach math and reading to schoolchildren around the world led to his creation of Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) that has taught multi-media courses to some 50,000 K-12 students from 35 countries.

Additional video recordings Accession ARCH-2017-319

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Pioneers in Science Paul Berg 1_01 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (dvcam)

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Pioneers in Science Cam 1 Tape 1 1_02 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Pioneers in Science Cam 1 Tape 2 1_03 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Pioneers in Science C2T1 1_04 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (minidv)

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Pioneers in Science C2T2 1_05 2009 May 20

Physical Description: 1 videotape(s) (minidv)