On August 12, President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to sixteen accomplished individuals, among them British physicist Stephen Hawking.
U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to physicist Stephen Hawking.
Source: Getty Images
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States (Actually, the Congressional Gold Medal is equally prestigious, but is presented by Congressional choice instead of Presidential choice.) President Obama selected 16 recipients to receive the 2009 Medal of Freedom. Some reasons for his selection of Hawking are aptly stated in the White House press release on the ceremony:
Persistent in his pursuit of knowledge, Stephen Hawking has unlocked new pathways of discovery and inspired people around the world. He has dedicated his life to exploring the fundamental laws that govern the universe, and he has contributed to some of the greatest scientific discoveries of our time. His work has stirred the imagination of experts and lay persons alike. Living with a disability and possessing an uncommon ease of spirit, Stephen Hawking’s attitude and achievements inspire hope, intellectual curiosity, and respect for the tremendous power of science.
Of course, Hawking isn't the only physicist to be honored by Obama, and a physicist who has been made one of President Obama's top advisors is profiled in an August 13 Time magazine article. One of the President's earliest appointments was to select Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as his Secretary of Energy, adding a severe amount of gravitas to a position which has been somewhat blown off by past administrations. (For example, President Reagan apparently once appointed a dentist. No offense to dentists, but unless the energy policy involves transforming plaque into a power source, a dentist really doesn't have much to bring to bring to the table.)
While these high profile appointments and awards are all well and good, and certainly go a long way toward helping place science in prominence, the real question is whether the administration will really support scientists when it comes to the funding of research projects. The Bush administration talked a good game on education and research, but the money just never seemed to reach the expectations. With the economic crisis taking place now, it's unclear whether the Obama administration will be able to keep up with handing out checks to major research institutes ... especially if those checks will take a while to begin paying back dividends.
Related Articles:
- Dec. 2008 - Obama's Science Team
- Feb. 2009 - Science as Stimulus
- March 2009 - Stimulus Science Revisited
- April 2009 - President Obama Reaffirms Commitment to Science
- May 2009 - Presidential Science Committee Holds Heavyweights
- Aug. 2009 - Government Bailout Helps Stimulate Fermilab and Others
Comments
Stephen Hawkings blackhole dynamics has inspired me to do many papers especially on Osteoporosis and saturn waves :* *
*Hot spots on Jupiter surface controlling turbulence every time Jupiter
moves through Capricorn related to more osteoporosis problems due to bone
brittleness and usage of nano tubular stem cell in vivo appications-reg*
*Oxford –Anna –Cambridge –Hubble coordinating committee member Sankara
Velayudhan Nandakumar on behalf of cape Institute of Technology,Nagercoil
formerly with ,NSK Engineering college ,Nagercoil as research scholar,Anna
University with Hubble space research committee of Hon.Roger
Davies,Hon.Collin Webbs FRS have com out with their new finding of
balckholes dark domains controlling the four quadrant frequency-dampness
root locus diagram towards the fourth quadrant oscillation typically
enhancing Saturn boundary emissions, typically enhancing the four quadrant
shifts dynamics related to Magneto optic quantum sector of space with
reference to hologram source split up for resonance jump over resonance and
symmetry breaking sector for phase drifted quantum band widths for
disturbance by hot spots on Jupiter at Capricorn. This means in future
Hawking’s blackholes oscillating in fourth quadrant will be able to
optically squeeze solar rays typically enhancing dynamics between the first
and fourth quadrant enhancing earth affined dynamics.* gCase history of of
an aged woman who suferred osteporosis due to low hemoglobin of 3 marker and
unbalancing for a fall with broken limbs call for carbon nanotubular
reinforcement by localised growth.Cross oscillating jump ove genes related
brittleness control is required in this particular case as well earlier
buitup of hemoglobin with proper diet and nutritous proteins and soup to
buid up more than 8 marker.This may be particularly pronounced with people
having the cross at the end of fate line at the saturn mount as per palm
print analysis.calcium phosphate infilteration and brittleness may be
watched as the age is reache as in the case of devine Sarah Berhadt.People
born on Oct 22,january 8,17 26 born children must have vivo vitro stem cells
banking registration early.They are liable to have injuries to the lower
limbs ,weakness or tumbling of ankles ,injuries to the spinal column caused
by falls or by accidents.a lunar rays impart more flexibility the
brittleness to flexibility resaerch by balck crystal-moon stone helium laser
biostimualtion research to be continued in our line of thought.
*Oxford –Anna –Cambridge –Hubble coordinating committee member Sankara
Velayudhan Nandakumar on behalf of cape Institute of Technology,Nagercoil
formerly with ,NSK Engineering college ,Nagercoil as research scholar,Anna
University with Hubble space research committee of Hon.Roger
Davies,Hon.Collin Webbs FRS *