Press Statement - October 14, 1998

PS 98-16
Media contact:	Bill Noxon	(703) 306-1070	wnoxon@nsf.gov

Statement by Dr. Joseph Bordogna
Acting Deputy Director
National Science Foundation

On Awards for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry

I congratulate the five Nobel Laureates for 1998, three in physics and two in chemistry, for their remarkable achievements in science.

In physics, Professors Robert B. Laughlin of Stanford University, Horst L. Stormer of Columbia, and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton, have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of quantum fluids.

In chemistry, Walter Kohn of the University of California in Santa Barbara and John A. Pople of Northwestern University, have enhanced the understanding of quantum chemistry and immensely advanced methods for theoretical studies of the properties of molecules.

The National Science Foundation has supported all of these pioneering scientists. And when you look at the history of the Nobel Prize, it becomes a source of great pride that NSF -- which was established in 1950 -- has supported about half of the 95 U.S. Nobel Laureates in these major fields of science. The stunning work of these premier scientists is evidence that the public is right to fund the kind of research that unlocks the secrets of the unknown...that makes the unimaginable, imaginable...and makes the currently unheard of, tomorrow's norm.

See also: Statement by Dr. Joseph Bordogna On the Award of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Amartya Sen