Famous Scientist Recognition Event Held at the MOST

The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST), 500 S. Franklin St., Syracuse, will host a public Famous Scientist Recognition on March 6 from 9 to 11:30 when the United States Postal Service (USPS) unveils its new four-stamp series honoring American scientists John Bardeen, Gerty Cori, Edwin Hubble, and Linus Pauling. The MOST hosts the event to honor and bring attention to these individuals, recognizing their fields of study, as well as their associated links to local organizations, departments of higher education, and societies.

The official first day of issue ceremony will be held the same day at the ASDA Mega-Event in New York City's Madison Square Garden. There will be a commemorative postmark and cachet with the new stamps honoring the MOST and this extraordinary event. SSC member Vincent Juchimek designed a cachet for the first day cover, which will be available at the SSC table in the MOST lobby entrance after the unveiling ceremony.

The event, sponsored by L.C. Smith College of Engineering & Computer Science at Syracuse University and Lockheed Martin Corporation, will host urban and rural science students and teachers. MOST exhibit manager Peter Plumley and President Larry Leatherman will introduce the event. Each scientist will be honored in a ten-minute speech detailing their contributions and significance to the science world. The speeches will be delivered by engineering and science professors of Syracuse University.

The event will finish off with USPS representatives speaking briefly of the contributions science has made to the Postal Service and the Syracuse Stamp Club will finish with a brief about the science commemorative stamps. The unveiling of the new four-stamp issue will follow.

The MOST is located in historic Armory Square. The event will take place in the museum's gallery area and mezzanine.

Link to the MOST web site: www.MOST.org.

John Bardeen (May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991) was an American physicist and electrical engineer. He is the only person to have won two Nobel Prizes in Physics: in 1956 for inventing the transistor, along with William Shockley and Walter Brattain, and in 1972 for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory, together with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer. He was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field.

Dr. Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz, (August 15, 1896 – October 26, 1957) was an American biochemist born in Prague (now Czech republic) who, together with her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947 for their discovery of how glycogen (animal starch) — a derivative of glucose — is broken down and resynthesized in the body, for use as a store and source of energy. In 2004, both were designated an ACS National Historical Chemical Landmark in recognition of their work that elucidated carbohydrate metabolism.

Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. In 1919 Hubble was offered a staff position by George Ellery Hale, the founder and director of Carnegie Institution's Mount Wilson Observatory, near Pasadena, California, where he remained until his death. He also served in the US Army at the Aberdeen Proving Ground during World War II. For his work there he received the Legion of Merit. Shortly before his death, Palomar's 200-inch Hale Telescope was completed; Hubble was the first to use it. Hubble continued his researches at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, where he remained active until his death.

Hubble's arrival at Mount Wilson in 1919 coincided roughly with the completion of the 100-inch Hooker Telescope, then the world's largest telescope. At that time, the prevailing view of the cosmos was that the universe consists entirely of the Milky Way galaxy. Using the Hooker Telescope, Hubble identified the Andromeda Galaxy, which at that time were known as "nebulae" and had been assumed to lie within the Milky Way. His observations in 1922–1923 conclusively proved that these objects were much more distant than previously thought and were hence galaxies themselves, rather than constituents of the Milky Way. Announced on January 1, 1925, this discovery fundamentally changed the view of the universe.

Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American scientist, peace activist, author and educator. He is considered the most influential chemist of the 20th century and ranks among the most important scientists in history. Pauling was one of the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry, molecular biology and orthomolecular medicine (optimum nutrition).

Pauling is one of a small group of people who have been awarded more than one Nobel prize, one of only two people to receive them in different fields (the other was Marie Curie) and the only person in that group to have been awarded each of his prizes without having to share it with another recipient.

In 1954 Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances". Pauling's x-ray crystallographic research in crystal and protein structure determination as a biochemist helped lead other scientists to the eventual discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, which contains the genetic instructions for the development and functioning of all living organisms on earth.

During the Second World War, Pauling, an avid anti-Nazi, worked on research and development that had military applications. However, when the war ended he became particularly concerned about the further development and possible use of atomic weapons and with the destruction inflicted on the world by war in general. Ava Helen Pauling, Linus's wife of fifty-eight years, was a pacifist and in time he came to share her views.Pauling, along with others such as Albert Einstein began to express their concerns publicly. Pauling was particularly concerned with the effects of nuclear fallout and in 1962 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in campaigning against above-ground nuclear testing. His beliefs were not without controversy at the time and he was criticized by some for his actions.

Reference for Biographies: Wikipedia

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