Famous Mathematician Coming to Campus
Princeton's John Horton Conway, one of the world's leading mathematicians and inventor of a popular computer game, will present "Tangles, Bangles and Knots" on Monday, March 11, as the first of two Hitchcock Lectures.
His second lecture, "Fractan: A Ridiculous Logical Language," will be Monday, March 18.
Both lectures are free, open to the public and will take place at 4:10 p.m. in Sibley Auditorium, located in the Bechtel Engineering Center.
Conway, who is the John von Neumann Professor of Mathematics at Princeton, is considered unequaled for originality and imagination.
He has made ground-breaking contributions to many branches of mathematics, notably transfinite arithmetic, the theory of knots, many-dimensional geometry and the theory of symmetry.
He is perhaps best known outside the mathematics community as the inventor of the computer software "The Game of Life."
The Hitchcock Lectureship, administered by the Graduate Division, is named in honor of Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock. Their 1885 bequest set up a professorship for free lectures on scientific and practical subjects.
Nominate Top Staff
Nominations are open through April 12 for the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards to be presented May 8 at Alumni House.
The award is one of the highest honors presented to staff members by Chancellor Tien, and exemplifies outstanding achievement carrying out the university's mission.
Recipients will be selected by the Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee. All Berkeley staff except executive tier administrators and those with academic titles are eligible. Individuals or teams may be nominated and nominations need not come from the nominee's supervisor or department.
For information call Eric Ellisen, 643-9719, or Abram Hardin, 642-2241.
Monte Carlo Night
International House is sponsoring its first annual Monte Carlo Night fund-raiser Saturday, March 16, from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Chevron Auditorium. A donation of $15 buys a bag of chips for "fun gambling"--blackjack, roulette, craps and slot machines--with great prizes in exchange for winnings.
The evening also will feature the UC Jazz Ensemble and cabaret singing by Freddie Miranda, plus hors d'oeuvres, a dessert buffet and no-host bar. Tickets are available in advance by calling 642-4128 or at the door.
Gerald Early Lecture
Gerald Early, noted critic of African-American and American culture, frequent NPR commentator and director of the African and African-American Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis, will give a public lecture on campus Wednesday, March 13, at 8 p.m. at Alumni House.
Early, who is visiting Berkeley as Avenali Professor of Humanities, affiliated with the Townsend Center for Humanities, will address the topic "Martin Luther King and the Reinvention of Christian Leadership in the United States."
A follow-up discussion between Early, history professor Robert Middlekauf and Claybourne Carson, editor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford, is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, at 4 p.m., also at Alumni House.
For information on these and other events planned during Early's visit, call 643-9670.
Pacific Island Exhibits
The first two of three exhibits included in a "Peopling of the Pacific Islands" series are now on display at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
"The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World," on display through June 16, features the pottery, carved bone images, exquisite shell ornaments and other artifacts of the ancestors of the first Polynesians.
"Wealth of the Pacific: Gendered Valuables in the Cycle of Life," on view through June 16, offers a rare glimpse at forms of cloth that have inspired debates in recent anthropology on the role women play in producing and exchanging wealth.
A third exhibit, "Legacy of the Landscape: Archaeological sites of the Hawa'ian Islands," will be on display April 10 through June 2. This collection of photographs by Therese Babineau documents the remains of temples, irrigated fields, house sites, trails, dance platforms and other features of early island inhabitants.
The museum is located in Kroeber Hall. Call 643-7648 for hours and admission fees.
Travel/Study Orientation
UC Berkeley Extension will host an orientation for its Oxford/Berkeley travel study program Tuesday, March 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Faculty Club. The evening will feature a slide presentation and refreshments. To register or for more information, call 252-5229.