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March 17, 2003

NEW SMITHSONIAN SCIENCE SEMINAR SERIES
BEGINS APRIL 2 WITH NOBEL PRIZE WINNER RICCARDO GIACCONI

The Smithsonian Congress of Scholars invites all SI staff and
interested colleagues to attend the inaugural presentation in its new
Smithsonian Science Seminar Series.  On Wednesday, April 2, at 12:00
noon, in NMNH's Baird Auditorium, Nobel Prize laureate Riccardo
Giacconi will speak on 'Cosmic X-ray Sources.'

Formerly Associate Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory, Dr. Giacconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for
2002 for his pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led
to the discovery of the sources of cosmic x-rays.  In 1962, he and
his group at American Science and Engineering, detected the first
extra-solar X-ray source, and in 1970, they launched the satellite
'Uhuru,' which discovered hundreds of X-ray sources.  The x-ray
emission from many of those sources varied rapidly, leading to the
conclusion that the sources of the  emission were compact objects:
neutron stars and black holes.  In 1973 Giacconi established the High
Energy Astropysics Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics, which launched the Einstein Observatory and laid the
groundwork for the Chandra Observatory.  Since then, he has
progressively shifted to softer wavelengths: focusing first on
optical waves, as Director of the Space Telescope Scientific
Institute and then as Director General of the European Southern
Observatory.  Shifting to radio waves, he was appointed President of
Associated Universities Inc., which operates the National Radio
Astronomical Observatory. 

Smithsonian staff are invited to meet the speaker, and exchange ideas
with scientists from other SI units, during a modest sherry reception
in the Executive Board Room of NMNH, at 1:00 PM, immediately
following Giacconi's presentation.  If they wish, staff may bring
their lunches to the Board Room.

Presentations in the new Smithsonian Science Seminar Series will be
delivered each month, always on a Wednesday, at 12:00 noon in the
Baird Auditorium.  A sherry reception and bring-your-own bag lunch
will follow each seminar, permitting attendees to meet informally
with their colleagues from different units across the Institution.
The Series is being organized by the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars
Council, with support from the NMNH Director.  Next speaker will be
STRI archeologist/paleobotanist Dolores Piperno, who will discuss her
research on May 21. After a seminar in June, the series will take a
summer break, and resume in September. 

For further information, contact Elizabeth Losos, SCSC Vice Chair,
633-8095.

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