Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture
Dr. Putcha Venkateswarlu
Dr. Putcha Venkateswarlu was born in the small village of Dantaloor, India. He did his undergraduate and postgraduate work in physics in India, and his Ph.D. in physics at Banaras Hindu University under Prof. Asundi, a leading spectroscopist of his time. He went on to perform postdoctoral work at various reputable institutions around the world. He joined 51AV A&M Univeristy in 1982 as a professor of physics. During the last 15 years of his life he brought more than $4 million in research grants to AAMU. In his career he supervised over 50 Ph.D. and over 100 M.S. degree students in physics. At AAMU, 10 students obtained Ph.D. and 11 students M.S. degrees under his supervision. He supervised the very first Ph.D. student in physics at AAMU. 51AV A&M physics knew him as the "Father of Optics Research at AAMU." He published over 200 research papers. He worked with three Nobel Prize winners: Prof. Neils Bohr in Copenhagen, Prof. G. Herzberg at NRC in Canada, and Prof. R. S. Mulliken at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Putcha Venkateswarlu passed away on August 8, 1997 after a sudden illness. True to his constant dedication, he worked till the last breath of his life.
2024: DR. JOACHIM FRANK, 2017 NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY
The Twentyfourth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr. Joachim Frank from Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, on Friday, October 18, 2023 at 3:00 PM in the Dawson Hall Auditorium. The title of the talk will be "Single-Particle Reconstruction of Biological Molecules – Story in a Sample." Presently, he is serving as Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Biological Sciences. He won the Nobel prize in Chemistry 2017 for the "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution," along with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson.
2023: DR. Stanley Whittingham, 2019 NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY
The Twentythird Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham from Binghamton University, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA, on Friday, September 15, 2023 at 3:00 PM in the Dawson Hall Auditorium. The title of the talk will be "50 Years Old: What are the ultimate limits of lithium batteries and how they can lead to a cleaner Fossil-Fuel Free Society". Presently, he is serving as the Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at SUNY Binghamton. He won the Nobel prize in Chemistry 2019 for the "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".
2019: DR. VENKATRAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN, 2009 NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY
The Twentysecond Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan from University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK, on Tuesday, September 24, 2019. The title of the talk was “The Quest for the structure of the Ribosome, the machine that reads our Genes”. Presently, he is serving as the prestigious President Royal Society of London, United Kingdom. He won the Nobel prize in Chemistry 2009 for the "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".
2018: Dr. Klaus von Klitzing, 1985 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Twentyfirst Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture will be given by Klaus von Klitzing from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research Stuttgart, Germany, on October 26th, 2018. The title of the talk will be "A New kilogram in 2019- How my Nobel Prize contributed to this development." He won the Nobel prize in Physics 1985 "for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect."
2017: David J. Wineland, 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Twentieth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by David J. Wineland from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA, on December 1st, 2017. The title of the talk was be "Quantum Computers and Schrödinger's Cat." He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012 along with Serge Haroche "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems."
2016: Jack W. Szostak, 2009 Nobel Laureate in Medicine
The Nineteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Jack W. Szostak from the Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, on December 2nd, 2016. The title of the talk was "The Origin of Cellular Life." He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009 along with Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."
2015: Martin Chalfie, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
The Eighteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Martin Chalfie from Columbia University, on November 20th, 2015. The title of the talk was "Green Fluorescent Protein: Lighting Up Life." He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 along with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Y. Tsien "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP."
2014: Thomas A. Steitz, 2009 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
The Seventeenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial The lecture will be given on November 14th, 2014 by Nobel Laureate Thomas A. Steitz from Yale University. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 along with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".
2013: Richard R. Schrock, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
The Sixteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial The lecture entitled " The Inside and Outside of a Nobel Prize in 2005," was given by Nobel Laureate Richard R. Schrock from MIT. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005 along with Yves Chauvin and Robert H. Grubbs "for the development of the Metathesis method in Organic Chemistry".
2012: Walter Kohn, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
The Fifteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture has been presented by Dr. Walter Kohn, University of California Santa Barbara, CA on Friday November 2nd, 2012. The title of the talk was "Density Functional Theory for Novices and Experts". Dr. Kohn shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with John Pople. He was cited for "for his development of the density-functional theory".
2011: Wolfgang Ketterle, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Fourteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. Wolfgang Ketterle, John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA on Friday November 18th, 2011. The title of the talk was "When freezing cold is not cold enough - new forms of matter close to absolute zero temperature". Dr. Ketterle shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics with Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman for "the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates".
2010: John C Mather, 2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Thirteenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. John Mather of NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD on October 1st, 2010. The title of the talk was "From the Big Bang to Life and the end of the Universe". Dr. Mather shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 with George Smoot "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation".
2009: David Gross, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Twelfth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. David Gross from University of California Santa Barbara, CA on November 6th, 2009. The title of the talk was "The Coming Revolutions in Fundamental Physics". Dr. Gross shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 with H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction".
2008: John Hall, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Eleventh Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. John L. Hall from University of Colorado, JILA: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO on October 17th 2008. The title of the talk was "The Optical Frequency Comb: A Versatile tool for Science, Metrology, and Medical Diagnostics". Dr. Hall shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005 with Theodor W. Hänsch "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique". The prize was also shared with Roy J. Glauber of Harvard University.
2007: Riccardo Giacconi, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Tenth Putcha Venkateswarlu Annual Memorial Lecture, has given by Nobel Riccardo Giacconi, Associated Universities, Inc., USA. The title of the talk will was "X-Ray Astronomy." Dr. Giacconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 for "pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which led to the discovery of cosmic x-ray sources." He shared the Nobel Prize with Dr. Raymond Davis, Jr. from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and Masatoshi Koshiba from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
2006: Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Nineth Putcha Venkateswarlu Annual Memorial Lecture, was be given by Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MA, USA, Friday, October 20, 2006. The title of the talk was "The Universe is a Strange Place." Professor Wilczek was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 for "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction." He shared the Nobel Prize with David J. Gross from Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California Santa Barbara, CA, USA and H. David Politzer from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA.
2005: Anthony J. Leggett, 2003 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Eighth Putcha Venkateswarlu Annual Memorial Lecture, was given by Nobel Laureate Anthony J. Leggett from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, on Friday September 16, 2005. The talk was entitled "What can we do with a quantum liquid?" Professor Leggett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003 for "pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids." He shared the Nobel Prize with Alexei A. Abrikosov from Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, IL, USA and Vitaly L. Ginzburg from P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute Moscow, Russia.
2004: Herbert Kroemer, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physics
The Seventh Putcha Venkateswarlu Annual Memorial Lecture, "Semiconductor Heterostructures: From Physics to Devices and Back," was given on Friday October 8, 2004, by Nobel Laureate Herbert Kroemer from University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. Professor Kroemer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for "basic work on information and communication technology." He shared the Nobel Prize with Zhores I. Alferov from A. F. Ioffe Physio-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia and Jack S. Kilby from Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX, USA.
2003: Eric A. Cornell, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Eric A. Cornell, JILA, University of Colorado Boulder, CO, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics (Co-shared with Wolfgang Ketterle MIT and Carl E. Wieman University of Colorado, for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates) presented a lecture entitled "Stone Cold Science: Bose-Einstein Condensation and the Weird World of Physics a Millionth of a Degree from Absolute Zero" as the sixth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture on Friday October 3, 2003.
2002: Douglas D. Osheroff, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Douglas D. Osheroff, from Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physics (Co-shared with David M. Lee and Robert C. Richardson both from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, for the discovery of superfluidity in Helium-3) presented the fifth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture. There were two lectures on presented on Friday September 20, 2002: A more technical lecture entitled "Studies of the Superfluid 3He Phase Diagram in Low and Very Low Density Silica Aerogels," and a lecture for a general audience entitled "The Excitement of Discovery in Physics."
2001: Nicolaas Bloembergen, 1981 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Nicolaas Bloembergen, from University of Arizona, 1981 Nobel Laureate in Physics will present the fourth Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture. The lecture was presented on Friday, October 5, 2001. The lecture was entitled "Laser Applications, Past and Present". Dr Bloembergen received the Nobel Prize in Physics (jointly with Arthur L. Schawlow, and Kai M. Siegbahn) "for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy"
2000: Dr. Horst L. Störmer, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Horst L. Störmer, from Columbia University and Bell Labs, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics will present the third Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture. The lecture was presented Tuesday, October 31, 2000. The lecture was entitled "Fractional Electronic Charges and Other Tales from Flatland." Dr Störmer received the Nobel Prize in Physics (jointly with Robert B. Laughlin, and Daniel C. Tsui) "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations."
1999: Dr. William D. Phillips, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Dr. William D. Phillips, from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics presented the second Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture, entitled "Almost Absolute Zero: The Story of Laser Cooling and Trapping", on Tuesday, October 19, 1999 on the A & M University campus. Dr Phillips received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light." He also gave another more scientific seminar entitled "Atom Optics with Bose Condensates."
1998: Dr. Robert F. Curl, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Dr. Robert F. Curl, from Rice University, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry presented the first Putcha Venkateswarlu Memorial Lecture, entitled "The Adventure of Science", on Friday, October 23, 1998 on the A & M University campus. Dr. Curl received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with Richard Smalley, and Sir Harold W. Kroto) "for their discovery of fullerenes."
