Laureate Lecturer Series
Nearly every year since 1976, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (CNSM) Student Council invites a laureate to speak to the Cal State Long Beach campus.
The series was originally named the Nobel Laureate Lecturer Series, but in 2023 the scope was expanded to include other prestigious awards such as the Crafoord Prize; this has enabled the CNSM Student Council to invite professionals from a more diverse range of fields.
A history of these speakers can be found below.
Dan Kastner, MD, PhD
2024 Laureate Lecturer
Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis in 2021
"for establishing the concept of autoinflammatory diseases."
Dr. Kastner gave the following lectures.
Fact Stranger Than Fiction: Adventures in the Genomics of Inflammation
The following general lecture was recorded on April 23, 2024.
Abstract
The systemic autoinflammatory diseases are a group of disorders characterized by seemingly unprovoked episodes of systemic and localized inflammation, without the high-titer autoantibodies or antigen-specific T cells typically seen in autoimmune diseases, and without evidence of overt infection. Many of these illnesses are caused by mutations in genes that play an important role in the phylogenetically ancient innate branch of the human immune system. Through the study of patients with previously undiagnosed diseases, in the last four decades it has been possible to discover some of these genes, which has brought about a revolution in the way that we understand human immunity and the way we treat patients with autoinflammatory diseases, sometimes with life-changing results both for the patients and their families. Since the beginning of my career at the National Institutes of Health in 1985, I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this incredible journey, which is still ongoing. I hope to regale the audience with some of the basic principles of genomics, to explain some of the clinical features of illnesses we have studied, to highlight some of the key discoveries that we have made, and to illustrate how these discoveries have begun to affect the practice of medicine. And, by the end of the lecture, I hope to introduce you to some of the exciting opportunities for future discovery.
Autoinflammatory Disease and the Human Condition
The following technical lecture was presented on April 23, 2024. Recording is not available.
Abstract
This lecture will build upon the basic principles of human genomics, the innate immune system, and the connection between human biology and the practice of medicine that I will introduce in my general lecture. Although more detailed than the first lecture, I would expect that this second lecture would be accessible to anyone with modest knowledge of biology who attends the first lecture. This second lecture will begin by discussing autoinflammatory diseases that involve excessive activation of any one of three fundamental ways that humans respond to microbial pathogens. Mutations in the genes controlling these pathways, which are essential to survival, can lead to inappropriate or exaggerated inflammation that may even be fatal. I will then move on to discuss how mutations in these immune-related genes may sometimes be protective against certain pathogens, using the example of how gene mutations that cause familial Mediterranean fever may be protective against Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague. Finally, I will discuss how somatic mutations that arise in blood precursor cells in the bone marrow may lead to a newly discovered adult-onset autoinflammatory disease that cuts across current clinical diagnostic boundaries. I will close with a discussion of how the boundaries between autoinflammatory disease and normal experience can sometimes blur, and an enumeration of some of the important questions that await the next generation of researchers.
Andrew Knoll, PhD
2023 Laureate Lecturer
Crafoord Prize in Geosciences in 2022
"for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the first three billion years of life on Earth and life’s interactions with the physical environment through time."
Dr. Knoll gave the following lectures.
The Deep History of Life
The following general lecture was recorded on April 25, 2023.
Abstract
The interplay between life and environment plays out on many scales, none more dramatic than the largest -- planetary in extent and billions of years long. Fossils of shells, bones, tracks and trails record a history of animal evolution nearly 600 million years in duration. Our planet, however, accreted 4.6 billion years ago -- what kinds of organisms characterized Earth's youth and middle age? And how do we establish the nature of surficial environments on the early Earth? Comparative biology suggests that the deep history of life is microbial, and over the past five decades paleontologists have discovered a tractable record of ancient microorganisms in rocks that long predate the earliest evidence of animals. Sedimentary geochemistry, in turn, provides a sense of Earth's dynamic environmental history. The first billion years of microbial evolution played out on a planet without oxygen. 2.4-2.2 billion years ago, the initial accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere and surface oceans opened a new chapter in Earth history, one in which bacteria – soon joined by algae and protozoans -- lived in oceans with moderate oxygen in surface waters but oxygen-free waters below. Only with a further increase in oxygen, beginning about 600 million years, did our familiar world of animals and plants begin to take shape, adding complexity of size and shape to ecosystems still governed by microbial metabolisms that originated on the early Earth. The pervasive theme of deep history, then, is one of the interplay between Earth and life, each influencing the other through time.
Extinction: Then and Now
The following technical lecture was recorded on April 25, 2023.
Abstract
In nature, extinction follows speciation, as death follows birth. Most species that have ever graced our planet are extinct, a fact clearly documented by the fossil record. But fossils tell us something else: at a few moments in the past, a majority of animal species disappeared all at once. Called mass extinctions, these events have played a major role in shaping the biological world that surrounds us today. The mass extinction that removed dinosaurs and many other less evocative creatures 66 million years ago reflects the impact of a large meteorite. In contrast, the largest known extinction event, 252 million years ago, was driven by volcanism a million times greater than anything ever experienced by modern humans. Huge amounts of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere, resulting in global warming, ocean acidification and oxygen loss in deep waters of the world's oceans. If that sounds familiar, it should. In the 21st century, technological humans are, once again, emitting carbon dioxide at high rates, putting our biological heritage at risk. The question is whether we – all of us – will have the will and the wit to do something about it.
Donna Strickland, PhD
2022 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018
"for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses."
Robert H. Grubbs, PhD
2019 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005
"for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis."
William Phillips, PhD
2018 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1997
"for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light."
William E. Moerner, PhD
2017 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014
"for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy."
Sir Richard Roberts, PhD
2016 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1993
"for the discovery of split genes."
Eric Wieschaus, PhD
2010 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995
"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development."
F. Sherwood Rowland, PhD
2008 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995
"for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone."
Douglas Osheroff, PhD
2007 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1996
"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3."
Roger Guillemin, PhD
2006 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain."
Alan J. Heeger, PhD
2005 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2000
"for the discovery and development of conductive polymers."
Edmond H. Fischer, PhD
2003 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1992
"for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism."
Walter Kohn, PhD
2002 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1998
"for his development of the density-functional theory."
Douglas D. Osheroff, PhD
2000 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1996
"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3."
Paul Boyer, PhD
1999 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1997
"for their elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)."
Thomas R. Cech, PhD
1998 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989
"for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA."
Edward B. Lewis, PhD
1997 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995
"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development."
George A. Olah, PhD
1996 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994
"for his contribution to carbocation chemistry."
Kary B. Mullis, PhD
1995 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993
"for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method."
Rudolph A. Marcus, PhD
1994 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992
"for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems."
Arthur L. Schawlow, PhD
1993 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1981
"for their contribution of the development of laser spectroscopy."
Subramanyan Chandresekhar, PhD
1992 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1983
"for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars."
James D. Watson, PhD
1991 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."
Linus C. Pauling, PhD
1990 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954
"for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances."
Donald J. Cram, PhD
1989 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1987
"for their development and use of molecules with structure- specific interactions of high selectivity."
Baruch S. Blumberg, PhD
1988 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976
"for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases."
William Lipscomb, PhD
1987 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1976
"for his studies on the structure of boranes illuminating problems of chemical bonding."
Ilya Prigogine, PhD
1986 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977
"for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures."
Francis H.C. Crick, PhD
1985 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."
Paul Berg, PhD
1984 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980
"for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA."
Gerald M. Edelman, PhD
1983 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1972
"for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies."
Roger Guillemin, PhD
1982 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain."
Melvin Calvin, PhD
1981 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1961
"for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants."
Rosalyn Yalow, PhD
1980 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones."
Richard P. Feynman, PhD
1979 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1965
"for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles."
Arthur Kornberg, PhD
1978 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959
"for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid."
Francis H.C. Crick, PhD
1977 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."
Donald A. Glaser, PhD
1976 Laureate Lecturer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1960
"for the invention of the bubble chamber."
