by Isaiah Hinsley
Left to right: Dr. William Kenyon, Dr. Julie Talbot, and Dr. Logan Leslie
On Thursday, November 5, the University of West Georgia College of Science and Mathematics held their annual Popular Lectures for the 2015 Nobel Prizes winners. The event included presentations from three UWG faculty members. Each lecturer discussed the winner’s impact in the of advancements science. Dr. S. Swamy Mruthinti, professor of biology, hosted the event and introduced faculty members before they discussed their topics.
“This series has been going since 2010,” said Dr. Mruthinti. “It's the sixth one in the series. Our idea is to bring the Nobel Prize living work and explain to our students so they will understand the significance of this year’s Nobel Prize.”
Dr. Logan Leslie, Dr. Julie Talbot, and Dr. William Kenyon discussed the significance of each Nobel Prize winner in physiology and medicine, physics, and chemistry. Dr. Logan Leslie, lecturer of Chemistry, explained Dr. William C. Campbell’s and Dr. Satoshi Ōmura’s discovery of a novel therapy that fights against infections caused by round worms’ parasites. The pair of scientist won the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine. Dr. Leslie also discussed Dr. Youyou Tu’s discovery of a novel therapy that helps fight Malaria. This discovery allowed Dr. Tu to win the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine as well.
Dr. Julie Talbot, associate professor of physics, focused on the significance of Dr. Takaaki Kajita’s and Dr. Arthur B. McDonald’s discovery of neutrino oscillations that proved neutrinos actually do have mass. The two scientists won the Nobel Prize for physics. The last speaker, Associate Professor of Biology Dr. William Kenyon, gave in depth details about Dr. Tomas Lindahl, Dr. Paul Modrich, and Dr. Aziz Sancar studies in mechanistic and DNA repair. These scientists also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
For more information about the lecture and other events, please visit www.westga.edu/cosm.
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