Campus Hosts Symposium to Honor
90th Birthday of Charles Townes

On October 6-8, UC Berkeley will host an international symposium honoring professor emeritus Charles Townes, who won the 1964 Nobel Prize in physics for his collaboration in the invention of the maser and laser. Through his career, spanning almost 70 years, Townes has gained esteem as a research leader, scientific advisor, and teacher of the 20th century’s most innovative physicists. The goal of the symposium is to honor and amplify Townes’ vision, allowing the newest generation of research physicists to move it forward into the 21st century and beyond. Furthermore, possibilities for investigating new, deep discoveries about the nature of reality, as well as for developing new tools to advance this adventure, will be explored. The program will focus specifically on the challenge of producing powerful new technologies that, similar to the laser for which Townes won the Nobel Prize, may generate opportunities to open up whole new domains of advancement in experimental physics.

The symposium brings together an outstanding and select group of international research leaders—including 20 Nobel laureates—within Physics, Cosmology, and related fields. Hosts for Amazing Light: Visions for Discovery include UC president Robert C. Dynes, UC Berkeley chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau, College of Letters & Science dean of physical sciences Mark A. Richards, and department of physics chair Marjorie Shapiro.

Over $165,000 in prizes will be awarded to winners of various competitions, including the Amazing Light Laser Challenge and a Young Scholars Competition recognizing outstanding achievement by researchers under the age of 40. A gala celebration honoring Charles Townes and competition winners will be held on October 8.

All conference events will be held on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The Amazing Light Gala will be held at the historic Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland. Both the campus venues and the Rotunda Building are convenient to public transportation. The symposium is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Amazing Light Consortium of Supporting Organizations.

For more information or to register, please visit www.foundationalquestions.net.