Southland Students Win Statewide Nobel Essay Contest.Business Editors/Education Writers LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2001 Four California junior high and high school students, three of them from Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , are the winners of a statewide California Nobel Prize Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. Centennial Contest sponsored by the Consulates General of Sweden in Los Angeles and San Francisco and the California Science Center The California Science Center (sometimes spelled California ScienCenter) is a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Billed as the West Coast's largest hands-on science center, the California ScienCenter is a public-private partnership between the State in Los Angeles. The contest for individual students between grades 8 and 11 attending a California-based junior or senior high school, is a program of the California Nobel Prize Centennial Celebration. The contest was initiated last January in recognition of the Nobel Prize Centennial 2001. No region of the United States or anywhere else in the world has been as laureate-rich as the state of California. The announcement was made last week as the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, announced three more California Nobel Laureates. Essays of no more than 1,200 words describing "the prize-winning work of any one California Nobel Laureate (alive or deceased) in the field of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine and the impact of that discovery or invention on the field of science for which the work was honored, and upon the larger society," were submitted by May 31, 2001. A panel of science educators coordinated by the California Science Center judged the essays. Along with 10 runner-ups receiving honorable mention, the winning students include first place winner, 14-year-old Robyn Strumpf, currently a ninth grader at Viewpoint School in Calabasas, Calif. Strumpf wrote about Willard Frank Libby, who won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Swedish: Nobelpriset i kemi) is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the six Nobel Prizes. The first prize was awarded in 1901. for his work in radiocarbon ra·di·o·car·bon n. A radioactive isotope of carbon, especially carbon 14. radiocarbon Noun a radioactive isotope of carbon, esp. (Carbon-14) dating of prehistoric objects. Asked about her winning essay, Strumpf said, "He did something that's similar to what I'd like to do for a career: forensics See computer forensics. ." Second place winner, Rachel Khong, is currently a junior attending Diamond Bar High School. Her essay focused upon Thomas Hunt Morgan, recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology. Third place winner, Hans Hickman, was an eighth grader at Valley Preparatory School in Redlands, Calif., when he submitted his essay on Stanley Prusiner, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology. Jennie Brewer was a junior at Valhalla High School Valhalla High School is a public, comprehensive high school located in Rancho San Diego, a neighborhood near El Cajon, California, and serves approximately 2,000 students in grades nine through twelve. in El Cajon, Calif., when she submitted her essay on J. Michael Bishop John Michael Bishop (born February 22, 1936) is an American immunologist and microbiologist who won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He currently serves as an active faculty member and chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco. , winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine and currently chancellor of UC San Francisco. The essays will be posted on the www.calnobel.org Web site. All four students will receive cash awards ($5,000-$1,000) presented by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, on Oct. 25 at the California Nobel Prize Centennial luncheon to be held at the California Science Center. The students will also participate at academic symposia being held at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX and the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. , and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Commenting on the California Science Center's role in the Essay Contest program, Executive Director Jeffrey Rudolph said: "We are proud to be involved in facilitating the Nobel Centennial Essay Contest. Great discoveries that lead to Nobel Prizes come from a sense of wonder and curiosity that leads to a commitment to solve a problem or discover something new. "The Science Center's mission is to stimulate and nurture the natural curiosity young people have in the world around them and to ensure that future generations benefit from scientific discoveries." Echoing those words, Swedish Consul General Andreas Ekman said: "The theme behind the California Nobel Prize Centennial, Cultures of Creativity, is to encourage and help generate future generations of Nobel Laureates. Through this celebration, we wish to strengthen the contacts between Swedish and California institutions of higher learning, businesses and ultimately, between our societies." Amgen, BP, Beckman Foundation, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, W.M. Keck Foundation, Kavli Foundation, Northrop Grumman, Sun Microsystems Inc., TIAA-CREF TIAA-CREF Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund and the Winnick Family Foundation have underwritten the programs of the California Nobel Prize Centennial Celebration. Support of the Nobel Luncheon in Los Angeles and a Nobel Banquet in San Francisco will benefit the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) is a summer program for high school students in California for the purpose of preparing them for careers in mathematics and sciences. (COSMOS) and the establishment of a Nobel Legacy Scholarship to provide tuition to high school students enrolled in the program. |
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