The Nobel Tradition at Berkeley.

When Daniel McFadden became the 17th member of the Berkeley Faculty to win a Nobel Prize in October of last year, I jokingly stated at the press conference marking the event that at least as valuable as any monetary award was the lifetime parking space he was now entitled to on the Berkeley campus.

Valuable as these reserved spaces may be on a campus with a chronic parking problem, the parking signs marked "Reserved for NL," meaning Nobel Laureates, are understated, quiet reminders of the extraordinary talent that the campus has attracted through the years.

Like the old-growth trees that grace our pathways, each "NL" parking space is an expression of Berkeley's excellence. The presence of Nobel Laureates is part of the Berkeley ecology, an ecology that recycles and renews the University's excellence. Yuan T. Lee, a Berkeley chemist when he won the Nobel Prize in 1986, commented, "I came to Berkeley as a student because of the quality of the faculty; I return to Berkeley as a faculty member because of the quality of its students."

At the heart of this ecology is the excitement of discovery, reaching back to the early days of the University, but culminating initially with the first Prize won by Earnest 0. Lawrence, for the development of the cyclotron that penetrated the very heart of the atom and revolutionized nuclear science. Glen Seaborg's discovery of plutonium helped change the course of World War II. Not even Charles Townes, who won the Prize for the development of the laser could have forseen the multiple applications it has had. In 1980, when poet Czeslaw Milosz won the Prize for literature, the campus demonstrated that its faculty not only could penetrate the mysteries of science, but were also capable of revealing the mysteries of the human heart.

Daniel McFadden, Berkeley's most recent Nobelist illustrates the long-standing commitment of the University to applying sophisticated research to real-world problems. His analysis of consumer choice has been described as "an extraordinarily deep and beautiful thing that at the same time is deeply practical."

Berkeley has many traditions, but none of which it is more proud than the Nobel tradition. The campus is committed to preserving the special environment that has produced these remarkable discoveries. And, it still has plenty of parking spaces to set aside for Prize winners!