Nobel Prizes 2011

Earlier this month the Nobel Prize for each of six categories was announced by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.  With few exceptions, these prizes have been awarded annually since 1901 for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.  Since 1968 an additional prize, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, has also been awarded.  The prizes, which include a medal, a personal diploma, and a monetary gift, were established with funds willed for this purpose by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the creator of dynamite.  Nobelprize.org is the official web site for the award, and it contains a great deal of information.  There you can find a list of this year’s winners along with press releases announcing the awards, biographical information on Nobel, the names of winners from prior years, video interviews with previous recipients, and space in which to express congratulations to this year's winners.

Listed below are the recipients for each of the prizes for 2011 as well as some references to library materials related to their work:

10/3, Physics:
Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess “for the discovery of accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae.”
RL has a number of works on the expansion of the universe and supernovae, including:
Gravity’s Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe by Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees.
 

10/5, Chemistry:

Dan Shechtman “for the discovery of quasicrystals.”

RL has at least two books which discuss quasicrystals, including:

Nanoscale: Visualizing an Invisible World by Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Stephen E. Deffeyes.

 
10/3, Physiology or Medicine:
Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann “for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.”
And
Ralph M. Steinman “for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity.”
RL has materials on all three of these topics (innate immunity, adaptive immunity, and dendritic cells), including:
Cellular Signaling and Innate Immune Responses to RNA Virus Infections edited by Allan R. Brasier, Adlolfo Garcia-Sastre, and Stanley M. Lemon.


10/6, Literature:
Tomas Tranströmer “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.”


10/7, Peace:
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leyman Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”
RL has:
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf


10/10, Economic Sciences:
Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims “for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.”

RL has many works on macroeconomics as well as some authored or edited by Sargent, including:

Robustness by Lars Peter Hansen and Thomas J. Sargent.

In addition to the works listed and linked above, Rice Library has many titles on the Nobel Prize itself. Among these are:

Words of Peace: Selections from the Speeches of the Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize edited by Irwin Abrams.

Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science by Peter C. Doherty.

Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years edited by Agneta Wallin Levinovitz and Nils Ringertz.

Champions for Peace: Women Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize by Judith Hicks Stiehm.

 

Two rather unique titles based on this subject are Prizes, a novel by Erich Segal and Oxygen: A Play in Two Acts by Carl Djarassi and Roald Hoffman.  Also, one cannot overlook the feature film A Beautiful Mind which tells the story of Nobel Laureate John Nash.  Finally, for more information on Alfred Nobel, consider the CREDO reference or Biography in Context databases.

 

PO

Indiana State Archive at Risk

The Indiana State Archive is presently being housed in an old warehouse on the west side of Indianapolis. According to a recent article in the Indianapolis Star, the archive was temporarily moved there ten years ago. The building has many problems and the collections have been at danger many times. The State Archivists, Jim Corridan speaking at a workshop to the Society of Indiana Archivists told two stories about how close the residents of Indiana came to losing important collections. One involved a recently discovered survey map of the road from Jeffersonville to Vincennes that was made in 1805. The map was encapsulated and just two days later the roof leaked right over the map. Had this map not been protected it would have been destroyed. The other was about new shelving that was installed and had not been loaded with materials yet when another section of the roof leaked and the entire unit was covered in water.

The building currently holding the archive’s material was built in 1968 and is essential a pole barn type building with inadequate heating and cooling, as well as a roof that has had many incidents of leaking. While in today’s the world researcher are always looking for online accessible material, which the state archives has many, this does not mean the physical documents, artifacts, and records should be sacrificed. Aside from housing both of Indiana’s original constitutions, the 1816 and the 1851 versions, and many documents about the development of the state, it also has many items related to the Northwest Territorial government. All these precious resources are at risk if not properly maintained and protected. There are funds being made available to put a new roof on the structure, and this would certainly be helpful considering the number leaks that have happen during its time at this location, but it does not address primary concerns of temperature and humidity controls not to mention space for adequately housing all of the materials presently at the facility as well as future growth.

Indiana is soon approaching its 200th anniversary in 2016 and it needs to address the concerns of how we protect and maintain the history of our state. Perhaps, as suggested by the writer of the article that appeared in the Indianapolis Star, Stephen Towne, a fitting tribute to our state would be to encourage the legislators and citizens to take an active role in building a proper facility for the archives as a monument to the state’s achievements.

Towne, Stephen. “Protect priceless papers with new home for archives.” Indianapolis Star, October 11, 2011: A11

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110110316

Indiana State Archive

http://www.in.gov/icpr/2358.htm

Collections of the Indiana State Archive

http://www.in.gov/icpr/2722.htm

Indiana Digital Archives

http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/default.aspx

Preservation at the Indiana State Archives

http://www.in.gov/icpr/2354.htm

Friends of the Indiana State Archive      

http://www.fisa-in.org/

By

Jennifer Greene

Reference & Archives Librarian



To Your Good Health, Women!

In February the Office of Women’s Health, a project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published a 70-page book entitled A Lifetime of Good Health: Your Guide to Staying Healthy.

According to the publication’s Web site, this guide offers women “a plan for health at all stages of life.”  In addition to behaviors for preventing and managing many health conditions that affect women, it also addresses things that are important to them, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause, and breast cancer.

The guide is available online in English, Spanish, and Chinese translations. Print copies of the English (RA564.85 .L54 2011) and Spanish (RA564.85 .L5418 2011) editions are also available in Rice Library’s General Collection at the call numbers given.

Check it out!

PO