Abrikosov		Leggett

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2003 "for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids" jointly to Alexei A. Abrikosov (for a long time at the Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow and now at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago), Vitaly L. Ginzburg (Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow) and Anthony J. Leggett (University of Illinois, Urbana). The award goes for work done on systems that operate under two regimes very far from human experience: the quantum realm and the low-temperature realm. Full story.

Lauterbur		Mansfield

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine was announced yesterday, to be shared by Paul C. Lauterbur of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Peter Mansfield of University of Nottingham, England. They were honored for their discoveries in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The Nobel Assembly’s press release can be read here.

McCurdy

After nearly eight years as Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences, Bill McCurdy has announced his intention to leave the position and to devote himself full-time to his scientific teaching and research. Laboratory Director Charles Shank praised McCurdy’s “visionary leadership, which has brought LBNL’s computing power and capability into the 21st century…Computation is now an integral component of all aspects of LBNL’s scientific portfolio.” Shank shared the announcement with Computing Sciences staff yesterday in an all-hands meeting and a memo, posted here.

Fermilab’s Witherill
To Step Down in ‘05

Witherill

An historic first-time gathering of recruiters and scientists from the Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos laboratories will discuss potential employment opportunities with graduate students, post-docs and faculty at UC Berkeley tomorrow. A career fair will start the program at 2 p.m. in the MLK Student Union’s Pauley Ballroom, followed by an information session and reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Seaborg Room at the Faculty Club. All prospective scientists and engineers are encouraged to attend.