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Princeton in the News
April 24, 1998 | Feedback
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HIGHLIGHTS:
- Economist Ken Rogoff is widely quoted with a prediction that the
euro will become the currency of choice for organized crime.- James McPherson wins the Lincoln Prize for his book,
For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War.- In astrophysics, second thoughts about infinity.
PR Newswire
Copyright 1998 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
April 24, 1998, FridayHEADLINE: Exxon Education Foundation Awards More Than $500,000 to New Jersey Colleges And Universities
DATELINE: IRVING, Texas, April 24
The following announcement was made on April 23 by Exxon:
The Exxon Education Foundation today announced more than $500,000 in unrestricted grants to 32 New Jersey colleges and universities. The grants were made under the Foundation's Educational Matching Gift Program which provides a 3-to-1 match by the Foundation of the contributions of Exxon employees, retirees and surviving spouses and directors to institutions with which they have an affiliation. ...
Included among the 32 recipient organizations in New Jersey are: College of Saint Elizabeth, Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rider College, Rutgers University, Seton Hall University, St. Peter's College and Stevens Institute of Technology. ...
Astronomy
Copyright 1998 Kalmbach Publishing Company
May, 1998HEADLINE: Universe should expand forever; research based on Hubble telescope images of most distant supernovae; Astronews: Cosmology
Will the universe expand forever, or will it stop one day and then begin contracting? Several recent studies strongly suggest that the universe will continue expanding and may in fact pick up speed over time.
In the first two studies, astronomers used large ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope to examine several Type Ia supernovae in the distant universe. Type Ia supernovae arise when a white dwarf star collects enough matter from a companion star to push it above 1.4 solar masses. No longer able to support itself, the white dwarf collapses and explodes.
Because all Type Ia supernovae form under similar conditions, they show remarkably similar behavior, allowing astronomers to readily compare nearby supernovae with far more distant ones. And they are so bright that they can be seen halfway across the universe. ...
Two other research teams have reached the same conclusion using different techniques. Neta Bahcall of Princeton University and her colleagues are looking at how many massive galaxy clusters exist in the distant universe. In a high-density universe -- one that might one day stop expanding -- most massive clusters would form in relatively recent times. In fact, the odds are about 1,000 to one against even a single massive cluster forming at a time halfway back to the Big Bang. But Bahcall has found three massive clusters, implying that the universe has only 20 percent of the matter needed to halt the expansion.
A group led by Ruth Daly, also of Princeton University, looks at radio galaxies to reach the same conclusion. The apparent size of these enormous galaxies depends on the geometry of the universe as a whole, which in turn determines the universe's ultimate fate. A relatively small size at great distance would suggest a universe that will recollapse, a larger size implies a universe that will continue expanding but at an ever-decreasing rate, and an even larger size suggests a universe that will expand forever at an accelerating rate.
Surprisingly, Daly and her colleagues find that the distant radio galaxies appear huge, supporting eternal expansion and, at this stage at least, hinting that the universe will expand faster in the future. This implies some sort of "anti-gravity" force -- the famed cosmological constant introduced by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity. ...
Astronomy
Copyright 1998 Kalmbach Publishing Company
May, 1998HEADLINE: Making an exceptional impact; planetary scientists Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker
BYLINE: Graham, Rex
A self-described "rock-knocking geologist," planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker showed that Earth and the rest of the solar system were prone to violent impacts.
Carolyn Shoemaker said it was an ironic tragedy: Her husband, whose work had been summed up a few months earlier in a National Geographic TV documentary, "Asteroids: Deadly Impact," himself died in modem society's most deadly type of collision. ...
Barely 20 years old, Shoemaker took a job as a geologist with the USGS and trekked the West. He sometimes lived out of a tent while mapping the mineral resources of the Colorado Plateau region, a surreal landscape of mesas and canyons. Between USGS projects, Shoemaker did graduate work at Princeton University, where he earned his Ph.D. He returned to the West and to the USGS. ...
ABC NEWS
SHOW: ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 am ET)
APRIL 23, 1998HEADLINE: PARENT TO PARENT
GUESTS: HOWARD GREENE
BYLINE: CHARLES GIBSON
HIGHLIGHT: CHOOSING A COLLEGECHARLES GIBSON, Host: In this morning's Parent to Parent, how to help your child choose the right college. For thousands of high school seniors right now, May 1 is the deadline for accepting the offers they got from various colleges, and it's often the biggest decision that a teenager faces, involving weeks of anxiety for student and parents.
Well, Howard Greene, author, educational consultant, and former dean of admissions at Princeton University, joins us now with some good advice. And it's good to have you here. ...
CHARLES GIBSON: Let me start with a pet peeve. There is a national newsmagazine -- well, it's "US News and World Report," and they put out an issue every year that ranks the colleges. ...
CHARLES GIBSON: And -- and you see kids saying, "Well, I got into the seventh and the eighth, and so I'll take the seventh." It is so wrong, I think, to go by those rankings. They're not meaningful.
HOWARD GREENE: Absolutely agree. It's a bunch of numbers, and it has nothing to do with whether students can fit into a place socially, emotionally, academically. But it's driving the marketplace, no question about it.
CHARLES GIBSON: Yes, I hate it. What are the questions that parents and students ought to be asking, ought to be considering to lead them to the right decision?
HOWARD GREENE: There are some really key issues, and one of them is that social-emotional issue. If walking on a campus, often a student will say, "This feels right, I can see myself here." And that's one of the tests I ask them to do. The other his, how is that education going to be delivered? Do I do well in a big university setting, lecture halls, do I do well in seminars, small classes? What works for me to learn is a key issue. ...
BANGOR DAILY NEWS
Copyright 1998 Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)
April 23, 1998 ThursdayHEADLINE: And another thing ...
Acute pinocchioitis: Rommel Nobay fibbed a bit to get into Princeton University, claiming he is part black (nope), a National Merit Scholar (not even close) and that a family of lepers donated half their beggings to support his educational dream (hello?). When asked by prospective medical schools for grade transcripts, Princeton went a step further andfilled them in on Nobay's background as a bullslinger. Nobay sued, claiming invasion of privacy and defamation. A judge threw the case out, saying Princeton had done sick people of the future a great big favor. The prevaricating plaintiff says he is extremely disappointed in the verdict and will appeal. We take it, then, that he is delighted and will not appeal.
Omaha World-Herald
Copyright 1998 The Omaha World-Herald Company
April 23, 1998, ThursdayHEADLINE: East All-Stater Says He'll Go To Columbia
BYLINE: COREY ROSSSioux City East all-state center Joe Case has committed to play college basketball at Columbia of the Ivy League.
The 6-foot-9 Case chose Columbia over Wisconsin-Green Bay and Northern Iowa.
Case averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds as a senior to lead the Black Raiders. He was The World-Herald's Class 3-A, 4-A player of the year.
"It's just a good fit," East Coach Jeff Vanderloo said, referring to Case wanting to major in journalism.
It's also a good fit in that Case could have a chance to play right away. Columbia, which is in New York City, lost only one starter - it's 6-8 center - from a team which finished fourth in the Ivy League, which was dominated by Princeton. ...
PR Newswire
Copyright 1998 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
April 23, 1998, ThursdayHEADLINE: Vance D. Coffman Elected Chairman of Lockheed Martin
DATELINE: BETHESDA, Md., April 23
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) today announced the election of its chief executive officer, Vance D. Coffman, as chairman of the Corporation's board of directors, effective immediately.
"This action is consistent with our Corporation's long-term succession plans and ensures the smooth evolution of Lockheed Martin and strong management continuity for the future," said Norman R. Augustine, who will step down as chairman but remain on the Corporation's board of directors. ...
In addition to serving on the Lockheed Martin board, Augustine, who retired as the Corporation's CEO last August, is a faculty member of Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science. He also will continue to serve on several corporate boards, as well as chairman of the American Red Cross. ...
The Washington Post
Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
April 23, 1998, ThursdayHEADLINE: Skipping Through Time With Gore Vidal
BYLINE: Timothy FooteTHE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
By Gore Vidal
Random House. 260 pp. $23In "Palimpsest," Gore Vidal's recent memoir, a Washington dowager tells him how much she liked one of his books. The old lady gets the title wrong, but Vidal stays cheerful. "She may have read the book," he reflects, "no commonplace thing in what Henry James called 'the city of conversation.' " The book is "Julian," perhaps his best; nothing but serious perusal will do it justice. Yet there are books it may be better to talk about than to read, and one of them, alas, is "The Smithsonian Institution." ...
Squaw turns out to be a first lady, clearly the one to have if you're having only one: She is beautiful Frances "Frankie" Cleveland, who married her president in 1886 when she was only 22, and apparently charmed all Washington. Husband Grover, a Vidal-approved Democrat, dead-set against big business, high tariffs and the spoils system, proves friendly, too, and soon T is meeting all the presidents, forward and backward, time-travelers every one. They pore over each new account of their presidencies and regularly gather to carp about each other's policies; T sits in on a debate over whose face should have wound up on Mount Rushmore.
This should be promising terrain for Vidal's scorpion wit and passion for political lore. He does not exploit it half enough, though the book gets a brief jolt of storytelling life during a moment of benign political trickery played in 1910 by Frankie and T on a certain high-minded and hypocritical president of Princeton University. ...
Investor's Business Daily
Copyright 1998 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
April 22, 1998HEADLINE: Vanguard's John Bogle:
BYLINE: By Nancy Gondo, Investor's DailyJohn Bogle fines staffers $1 whenever they use industry jargon that clouds their mission.
''I think how we use words shapes how we think,'' said the founder and senior chairman of the Vanguard Group of mutual funds.
One of his biggest pet peeves is the word ''customer.'' That conjures up images, he says, of someone who ''buys the latest thing in a white sale, transferring allegiance from store to store as prices change.'' ...
He boils that down to either ''client'' or ''shareholder.'' Both, he says, connote long-term, stable relationships.
He'd been interested in investments since he was a child. His parents had lost a sizable sum in the '29 stock market crash, and that started him thinking about financial security.
A good student, he held down part-time jobs in high school to help support his family and earned a scholarship to Princeton University.
In December '49, hunting for an economics thesis topic, ''I happened to open up a Fortune magazine to Page 116, and there was an article titled 'Big Money in Boston' - it was about the mutual fund industry,'' he said. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 22, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: COLLEGE LACROSSE: NOTEBOOK -- DIVISION I MEN; No. 1 Maryland Wins A.C.C. Title
BYLINE: By WILLIAM N. WALLACE
With the regular season nearing its end, these were the highlights from the weekend: Maryland won the Atlantic Coast Conference's annual tournament for the first time and regained first place in the Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll; Princeton extended its string of Ivy League victories to 17; Georgetown gave Hobart its first loss, and third-ranked Johns Hopkins had a close call against 18th-ranked Navy, winning by 15-14. ...
AAP NEWSFEED
Copyright 1998 AAP Information Services Pty. Ltd
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: FED: UNIVERSITIES TO PROVIDE PROOF OF QUALITY
CANBERRA, April 21 AAP - All universities would have to report on the quality of their graduates as part of a quality assurance and improvement plan, Education Minister David Kemp said today.
Addressing an OECD Seminar on tertiary education in Sydney today, Dr Kemp said each institution would have to report on how happy employers were with its graduates. ...
Dr Kemp also announced that a basic skills test for final year students would be trialled to allow Australian universities to compare their performance with overseas institutions.
"This would provide valuable information on how Australian graduates and universities compare with other countries," he said.
"We need to to be able to demonstrate that Australian graduates are internationally competitive."
The government will call for expressions of interest from universities to take part in the test, which will be based on the United States graduate record exam developed by Ivy League university Princeton.
The Baltimore Sun
Copyright 1998 The Baltimore Sun Company
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: G.W. Bauernschmidt Sr., 99, rear admiral served in supply corps in war
BYLINE: Fred Rasmussen, SUN STAFF
Rear Adm. George William Bauernschmidt Sr., who kept supplies flowing to Allied forces in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II, died Saturday in his sleep at Ginger Cove Health Care Center in Annapolis. He was 99.
The 1922 Naval Academy graduate commanded a submarine, served on board ships and taught at the academy during a military career that ended in 1955. ...
Admiral Bauernschmidt was a 1916 graduate of Gilman School and attended Princeton University for two years before he was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1918. ...
The Denver Post
Copyright 1998 The Denver Post Corporation
April 21, 1998 TuesdayHEADLINE: Ex-Rep. Schroeder turns another page 'Recovering politician' writes on women's role in politics
BYLINE: By Elliot Zaret, States News ServiceWASHINGTON - Describing herself as a "recovering politician in the 12-step program," former Denver Congresswoman Pat Schroeder called Monday for more civility and policy in politics and talked about the changing role of women in government as she previewed her memoirs.
Schroeder's book, "24 Years of House Work and the Place Is Still a Mess," is scheduled to hit bookstores May 4. ...
Schroeder, now president of the Association of American Publishers and an instructor at Princeton University, recalled her first days in the House when Speaker Carl Davis of Oklahoma tried to swear in her husband instead of her. She fought to become the first woman assigned to the House Armed Forces Committee, a move that so infuriated the committee chairman that he forced her and Oakland Rep. Ron Dellums to share a seat in the committee room for two years. She also felt the pressure of carrying the mantle of feminism. She said it was as if women were looking at her saying, "If this woman makes one mistake, then we're all going to be set back for life." ...
Financial Times
Copyright 1998 The Financial Times Limited (London)
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: Big denomination euros a hit with Mafia:
The need to keep German politicians happy will result in high-value notes ideal for black market deals. Wolfgang Munchau explains an embarrassing dilemma:The key role played by dollar and D-Mark banknotes in the international drug trade and other underground criminal activities has made the Mafia one of the biggest "customers" of the US Federal Reserve and the German Bundesbank.
With the launch of Europe's economic and monetary union only a few months away, some economists are asking whether the future European Central Bank should try to win customers in the underground economy. ...
Kenneth Rogoff of Princeton University has investigated seignorage*. He makes this comparison: "If a Colombian drug lord offered a medium-term, zero-interest loan to the US Treasury in return for access to a superior smuggling and hoarding technology, presumably the offer would be refused. "Yet such an agreement is implicitly entered when criminals are offered the convenience and anonymity of large-denomination bills."
Mr Rogoff argues that the decision of the European Monetary Institute (EMI), the ECB's forerunner, to issue large-denomination banknotes amounts to an "aggressive step towards grabbing a large share of developing country demand for safe foreign currencies". ...
The Ledger
Copyright 1998 Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation (Lakeland, FL)
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: THEME TEACHING; INTEGRATING LESSONS HELPS STUDENTS UNDERSTAND
BYLINE: ANTHONY BRUCE GILPIN The Ledger
When Thomas Alva Edison was a 15-year-old railroad newsboy, he bought some used type and started publishing his own newspaper -- the first printed aboard a train.
An interesting fact, but how is it useful to a fourth-grade teacher?
Pat Larson and Elaine White, who teach at Spook Hill Elementary School in Lake Wales, use that fact as a springboard to teach a lesson about the history of railroads. They also use it as the premise for a writing assignment in which students pretend to be newspaper reporters interviewing Thomas Edison. ...
Michael Mahoney, a history professor at Princeton University, lectured to teachers on Edison at the Core Knowledge conference.
"Most of the core knowledge of any culture is tacit," Mahoney said. "Because it is tacit, no one discusses it much. What makes teaching tough is when a culture's tacit knowledge shifts from one century to the next." ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: Paid Notice: Deaths
WHITE, EWART JOHN, JR.
WHITE-Ewart John, Jr. A long time resident of Princeton, New Jersey, and a 1942 graduate of Princeton University. He passed away April 17, 1998 in Phippsburg, ME. Mr. White served in the U.S. Army during W.W.II in Germany and France. His career achievements included promoting the international expansion of Kopman Mills and Crompton Mills. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 21, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: At the Cloisters, A Crusade Against Chaos; Curators Spending Millions To Fix 12th-Century Masonry
BYLINE: By GLENN COLLINSThe walls of New York are shedding beams and bricks these days with a dangerous regularity. So it should hardly come as a surprise that the 800-year-old walls at the Cloisters, the medieval museum on a hilltop in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan, are showing signs of age.
But how is crumbling rock at the Cloisters any different from the masonry on the rest of New York City's 800,000 buildings, including the 75-year-old Yankee Stadium?
Well, crews can't just chip off the deteriorated parts and patch them up with concrete, as they were doing last week at the House That Ruth Built. The Cloisters contains remnants of chapels, cathedrals and monasteries from Spain and France, some of which date from the 12th century, making them by far the oldest enclosed structures in the city. ...
The medieval ambiance is so evocative that Al Pacino, in filming his 1996 documentary "Looking for Richard," shot many scenes at the Cloisters. The movie's re-enactment of the murder of the two young princes in William Shakespeare's "Richard III" was shot in Mr. Wixom's tower office.
"A cloister is supposed to take you out of your everyday world, and this one certainly does," said James H. Marrow, a medievalist who is an art professor at Princeton University. "The Metropolitan has done a fine job in preserving and maintaining the collection." ...
The Boston Globe
Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: Laser restoration;
SCIENCE BRIEFS / STEPHEN REUCROFT and JOHN SWAIN; Stephen Reucroft and John Swain are particle physicists who teach at Northeastern University.
BYLINE: By Stephen Reucroft and John Swain
Stains on the facades of old buildings can be safely removed by zapping them with a laser. This is the conclusion of a three-year project under the European Union's Brite Euram research program. The technology uses a hand-held laser to produce a beam of infrared light which is absorbed by such surface blemishes as dirt and graffiti, vaporizing them while leaving the underlying material undamaged. A spokesman for the French company Quantel, which sells the system, says the idea has been around for a while, but the trick was to make a portable system. (ref: Laser Focus World, April 1998)
Time travel
Quantum mechanics does not seem to forbid time travel. Li-Xin Li and J. Richard Gott, both of Princeton University, have found that contrary to a conjecture made by cosmologist Stephen Hawking, it is possible to have time travel without violating the fundamental rules of nature as described by quantum mechanics. This doesn't mean that we can build a time machine yet, but it does hold out hope for science fiction fans. The physics and mathematics involved are expected to play important roles in our understanding of the origin of the universe, and of time itself. (ref: Physical Review Letters, April 11, 1998)
Business Wire
Copyright 1998 Business Wire, Inc.
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: IVP'S New $350 Million Fund to Focus on "Brave New World" Investing; Creating New Markets and Companies through the Interaction of Technology and the Consumer
DATELINE: MENLO PARK, Calif.
April 20, 1998--IVP has announced today that it has raised a new $350 million venture fund, IVP VIII. This fund will focus heavily on "brave new world" investments which evolve from the interaction of consumers with the next wave of information and life sciences technologies. Examples include the digital home and digital TV, electronic commerce, and individualized medical therapies.
Brave new world investments are those that create and build new markets and companies within them. These companies usually have undefined business models but can spearhead markets that have significant impact.
"Technology is no longer a small, vertical market; it dramatically influences the way people live and is a key driver of the world economy," said Geoff Yang of IVP. "As a result, brave new world businesses and markets force us to think proactively and in new ways about how these businesses will evolve, their capital requirements, the kinds of management teams needed, strategic partnerships, and the timeframe for success. This new thinking is critical in venture capital today." ...
Investors in IVP VIII are Brinson Partners, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Duke Endowment, Duke University, Endowment Venture Partners, Ford Foundation, Harvard University, Horsley Bridge Partners, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Knightsbridge Advisers, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Rockefeller Foundation, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, St. Paul Venture Capital, University of California, Venture Investment Associates, Vulcan Ventures, Williams College, and Yale University. ...
The Capital
Copyright 1998 Capital-Gazette Communications, Inc. (Annapolis, MD.)
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: OBITUARIES
George Bauernschmidt
Retired Navy Rear Adm. George William Bauernschmidt, who helped to plan the D-Day land ings at Normandy in 1944, died April 18 at the Ginger Cove Health Center in Annapolis. He was 99.
Born in Baltimore, Adm. Bauernschmidt graduated from The Calvert School and Gilman Country School and at tended Severn School, excelling in track and football. He attended Princeton University for two years before being appointed to the Naval Academy in 1918. ...
Copley News Service
Copyright 1998 Copley News Service
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: ARTS & LEISURE Morrison living an author's paradise
BYLINE: Terry H. BurnsToni Morrison is convinced that the day will come, probably long after she's gone, when black writers won't face the constant questions of race.
It's not that the questions necessarily bother her, it's that they have to be asked at all.
As the first black American (and the first native-born American since John Steinbeck in 1962) to garner a Nobel Prize for Literature, Morrison bristles at those who use her skin color to label her work.
While it might be true that the 67-year-old Morrison prides herself on being a ''black novelist'' who has raised the literary voice of African-American writers, race really isn't the issue, she insists.
"Race is the least reliable information you can have about somebody. It tells you next to nothing about them,'' she says. ...
Morrison, for years a professor in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, envisioned ''Paradise'' as the last installment in a trilogy that includes her 1987 work ''Beloved'' and the 1992 novel ''Jazz.'' ...
Forbes
Copyright 1998 Forbes, Inc.
April 20, 1998HEADLINE: One-stop shopping
BYLINE: By Christine Foster; Edited by Tom PostHIGHLIGHT: A great idea for a new company might be as close as your nearest research university.
MANY WOULD-BE ENTREPRENEURS never take the leap because they're convinced they have to come up with their own ideas. Marina Hatsopoulos, 32, spent years fantasizing about starting her own company, but could not figure out an angle.
So she went out and bought herself an idea. In October 1994 she walked into the licensing office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and strolled out with plans for a product -- a 3-D printer that turns designs into solid prototypes. Thus was born Z Corp. ...
Nevertheless -- what she did, others can do. Frank P. Slattery Jr., 60, wanted a new career after retiring in 1994 as chief executive of Lease Financing Corp. in Radnor, Pa. Since 1996 he has plucked ideas from Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania and created five start-ups -- from spark plugs to software. ...
The Guardian
Copyright 1998 Guardian Newspapers Limited (London)
April 20, 1998HEADLINE: Farewell to the fast buck; New currency for top-dollar crime
BYLINE: MARK ATKINSON ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT
CRIMINALS the world over will soon be able to pack their stash away in much smaller suitcases thanks to Europe's planned single currency.
A new study says that once euro banknotes begin circulating in 2002 they will quickly rival dollar bills as the underworld's currency of choice because they will be issued in higher denominations, allowing the same value of dirty money to be concealed in smaller places.
The European Central Bank, which will manage the euro on behalf of the 11 countries expected to use the currency, is aiming to issue notes for 100, 200 and 500 euros - each worth much more than the highest-denomination US bill, $100 ( pounds 60). ...
Writing in a new book* on the euro published today for the London-based think -tank, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Kenneth Rogoff, of Princeton University, says notes of this size in a currency from a low-inflation economy will be attractive to criminals all over the world. ...
New Jersey Law Journal
Copyright 1998 American Lawyer Newspapers Group, Inc.
April 20, 1998HEADLINE: This Week's Winners & Losers
Winners
PRINCETON UNIVERSITYA judge in Connecticut dismisses a suit by an alum who claimed Princeton defamed him by alerting various medical schools that he had put phony accomplishments on his medical school applications.
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: Mighty and Secretive Art Dynasty Goes Public to Rebut Nazi Links
BYLINE: By ALAN RIDINGDATELINE: PARIS, April 19
After decades of ignoring rumors of its complicity with Nazi forces occupying France in World War II, the Wildenstein family, one of the art world's wealthiest and most powerful dynasties, has begun a campaign to clear its name and to validate its ownership of eight medieval manuscripts being claimed by another French Jewish family. ...
What appears to have brought this change of heart is a wave of negative publicity: not only the charges that the family misappropriated manuscripts belonging to another Jewish collector and that its Paris-based gallery collaborated with German occupiers, but also the attention given by newspapers and magazines to the messy divorce of Guy Wildenstein's older brother, Alec, and his wife, Jocelyne. ...
The heart of the Wildensteins' case is the argument that Nazi art historians wrongly attributed the manuscripts to the Kann collection when they marked them with the letters Ka, for "Kann, Alphonse." ...
Early in 1997, the Wildenstein Gallery in New York showed the same manuscripts to a London rare books dealer with a view to a possible sale. The dealer, Sam Fogg, asked a Princeton University scholar, James H. Marrow, to study the manuscripts. Mr. Marrow later reported to Mr. Warin that he spotted Ka numbers -- 879 to 886 -- on eight manuscripts (and not seven, as claimed by the Wildensteins). Thus the Kann heirs were convinced their manuscripts had been found. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: Alberto Calderon, 77, Pioneer Of Mathematical Analysis
BYLINE: By HOLCOMB B. NOBLEAlberto Calderon, one of the leading mathematicians of the last half-century, died on Thursday in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was 77 and was professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Chicago and lived in Chicago.
Mr. Calderon was known for his contributions to mathematical analysis, the branch of mathematics that includes calculus, infinite series and the analysis of functions -- helping to explain the physical universe by attaching numbers to its functions. ...
Elias M. Stein, a mathematics professor at Princeton University, said that Mr. Calderon made "remarkable, lasting contributions in developing singular integrals that are crucial to pure mathematics and understanding physical functions, from how heat is conducted to how sound is transmitted and electromagnetic waves travel." ...
Pensions and Investments
Copyright 1998 Crain Communications, Inc.
April 20, 1998HEADLINE: IBBOTSON TO BUILD TCW ADVISORY PROGRAM
BYLINE: Fred WilliamsLOS ANGELES -- TCW Group Inc. has selected Ibbotson Associates, Chicago, to develop the asset allocation and investment software for its 401(k) participant investment advisory service to be rolled out later this year.
TCW also has enlisted high-profile pension and behavioral finance experts and academics to serve on an advisory board. The board will review the asset allocation and risk tolerance methodologies and the software calculations provided by Ibbotson.
Harry Markowitz, 1990 winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, and regarded as the creator of Modern Portfolio Theory, heads the list of names on the eight-person advisory board.
Other members are: John Carroll, vice president of investments, GTE Corp., Stamford, Conn.; Robert Evans, former head, Xerox Corp. pension plan, and former consulting chief investment officer, State of Connecticut Retirement and Trust Funds; Shlomo Benartzi, professor, Anderson School of Business, UCLA; Roger Ibbotson, professor of finance, Yale School of Management, and chairman, Ibbotson Associates; Jeffrey Jaffe, associate professor of finance, Wharton School of business and finance; Daniel Kahneman, behavioral finance expert and professor, Princeton University; and Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral finance, University of Chicago. ...
The Post and Courier
(Charleston, SC)
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: Few see bank mergers as sign of doomsday
BYLINE: Peter PassellWhile the timing was dramatic, the news last week of two gigantic bank mergers shocked few economists who specialize in financial markets.
"This is the beginning of the catch-up game," explained Bert Ely, a banking consultant in Alexandria, Va. Legislation has prevented the creation of a dozen megabanks, he says, which would exist alongside hundreds or thousands of smaller independent ones. ...
That said, there is still disagreement over the potential efficiencies in moving from a world of $30 billion regional banks to one of $300 billion national banks. The merged entities may get some mileage from closing branches, integrating computer systems and combining specialized services - for example, financing trade with Latin America.
But there is "extreme skepticism" among researchers that the cost saving will offset the inefficiencies of running larger corporations, said former Federal reserve vice chairman Alan Blinder, who teaches at Princeton University. ...
ED:Peter Passell is a columnist for The New York Times.
Press Journal
Copyright 1998 Scripps Howard Newspapers (Vero Beach, FL)
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: ORGANIZED CRIME WELCOMES THE EURO
BYLINE: ANTHONY BROWNE Scripps Howard News ServiceNEW YORK - The drug lords of Colombia and the Russian mafia could be some of the main beneficiaries of the single European currency - because the large denomination notes will make it easier and cheaper to smuggle illegal profits across borders, according to a Princeton University professor.
Smuggling currencies can account for up to half the total cost of drug smuggling. The largest value Euro note will be 500 Euros - about $560.
"$1 million in $100 bills fits in a briefcase; $1 million worth of 500 Euro notes could be packed in a purse," claims Kenneth Rogoff, of Princeton University.
"The demand for large denomination notes comes mainly from agents interested in storing and transporting very large sums of currency; such agents tend to be involved in the underground economy," says Rogoff in his book "EMU: Prospects and Challenges for the Euro." ...
The Scotsman
Copyright 1998 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
April 20, 1998, MondayHEADLINE: PHOTOGRAPHER WHO CAPTURED A BEATLE
BYLINE: Stephen BreenSHE broke the hearts of millions of girls around the world in 1969 when she married "the cutest Beatle," Paul McCartney.
The Beatles were at the peak of their greatness and the singer could have had almost any woman he desired, but he found a soulmate in Linda Eastman, an American divorcee. ...
Linda Eastman was born in New York in 1941 into a world of privilege as the daughter of a wealthy entertainment industry lawyer. Her mother died in a plane crash when she was 19.
She studied art and history at Princeton University before going on to the University of Colorado where she met and married geophysicist, John Melvyn See. They had a daughter, Heather, but she applied for a divorce after a year. ...
TELECOMWORLDWIRE
Copyright 1998 M2 Communications Ltd.
April 20, 1998HEADLINE: ONLINE SECURITY BREACH WORRIES AT US UNIVERSITY
Students at Princeton University received false e-mails from a source purporting to be their Director of Studies. The message informed the students of upcoming changes to their schedules, which surprised everybody, not least the supposed sender. However, the Director of Studies was not amused by the loss of integrity to her messaging ability and suggested that the culprits will be dealt with severely upon identification.
United Press International
Copyright 1998 U.P.I.
April 20, 1998, Monday, BC cycleHEADLINE: UPI Focus: EU single currency may help drug barons
DATELINE: LONDON, April 20
A Princeton University professor writing for a London-based think tank says Russian and Colombian drug leaders will greatly benefit from Europe's new single currency -- the euro. Professor Kenneth Rogoff's study of the impact of the soon-to-be issued European Union currency was made public today by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and warns of big money smuggling problems.
He said illegal profits will be smuggled across borders more easily and more cheaply than now, adding that smuggling cash can account for up to half the cost of drug-running. On May 2, all European Union members except Britain, Denmark, Greece and Sweden, will be designated as members of the new European Monetary Union. By 2002, the euro is expected to be in widespread use with the largest value note to be issued at 500 euros, worth some $550, compared with the U.S. $100 note. Rogoff says the U.S. dollar is currently the smugglers' preferred currency, adding ''$1 million in $100 notes fits in a briefcase; $1 million worth of 500 euro notes could be packed in a purse.'' He says, ''The demand for large denomination notes comes mainly from agents interested in storing and transporting very large sums...such agents tend to be involved in the underground economy.'' He urges the central bank for the EU either not print the large denominations or prohibit its use in large transactions. Rogoff says at this time, dollars are in wide use in Latin America, especially Argentina, where official shipments of dollar bills during the 1990s have exceeded $40 billion. Meanwhile, he says more than $60 billion has been shipped to Russia in recent years. But other heavy users of dollars include the mafia and drug barons. ---
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Copyright 1998 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
April 19, 1998 Sunday, Final ChaserHEADLINE: NOVELIST BROOKS NO EXCUSES
BYLINE: By Anne Stephenson, Special for the RepublicA telephone conversation with Jodi Picoult begins with pandemonium, the sound of little voices chattering urgently in the background.
"Excuse me just a minute," Picoult says into the phone, and then her voice is farther away, slow and calm. "Sweetie, this is the really important phone call I told you about, and you need to let me talk. You guys go on and play now. Go on. Go on."
There is dissension, a clutter of sound, and then they go on their way. She comes back laughing and says, "Don't quote that," but how can you not? It's part of Picoult's story, this juggling act that she does. She is 31, has a house in New Hampshire, a husband and three kids, ages 6, 4 and 2. And she has managed, over the past seven years, between swim lessons and play dates, to write five novels, including the just-released The Pact (Morrow, $24).
The question everyone asks her is the one she can't really answer: How do you do it all? ...
Picoult has a degree in creative writing from Princeton University and a master's degree in education from Harvard. She also taught English to eighth graders before she started writing novels. She came away from The Pact, however, with some new lessons to remember as her own children grow older. ...
She remembers one of her fellow students at Princeton.
"He always wore black," she says. "He walked around campus wearing long trench coats with his hand over his forehead, looking like Atlas, like the whole world was on his shoulders. He looked so miserable all the time. He published a novel the year we graduated, one of those Vintage Contemporaries in the Bret Easton Ellis mode, and then no one ever heard from him again. I guess he's still wandering around in anguish.
"People like that drive me nuts. I think writing takes a lot more perspiration than inspiration. There's training involved, and you get better with time. But mainly it's getting yourself in front of the computer screen even when you're exhausted because you've been up all night with the baby, and writing what you know is complete garbage. But the next day you have something to edit from." ...
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Copyright 1998 The Atlanta Constitution
April 19, 1998, SundaySERIES: Home This report deals with Hispanic immigrants in the South.
HEADLINE: Special Report: 1998 Southern Economic Survey: The Latin influence; Industries' survival hinges on immigrants;
They come for jobs: Hispanic work force helps labor-intensive businesses prosper during a time of personnel shortages.BYLINE: Tammy Joyner
In a makeshift classroom, a dozen or so supervisors at Greentree Landscape Management Inc. are getting a crash course in customer service. On a recent Friday, the group split into pairs in the Stone Mountain company's warehouse for a final role-playing session after meeting once a week for a month.
"I am the lawn maintenance supervisor for Greentree."
"Do you have any special requests today?"
"Could you please sign this?"
To the casual observer, it may seem a simple lesson plan, but it is Survival 101 for many of these managers who have come to metro Atlanta from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, looking for jobs and a better life. For crew supervisor Gabriel Diaz, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, the class "helped a lot." ...
"A lot of what some people fear is that immigrants come in and they bring wages down," said Dan Rodriguez, assistant professor of organization and management at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. "That's not the case at all. Economic studies have not found a strong (negative) impact on wages."
An exhaustive two-year National Academy of Sciences study on the impact of immigration on the United States found similar results, said Thomas Espenshade, professor of sociology in the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Espenshade served on the blue-ribbon panel that produced the 400-page-plus study, "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration," released last year. ...
The Commercial Appeal
Copyright 1998 Southeastern Newspapers Corporation (Memphis, TN)
April 19, 1998HEADLINE: THE HIGHER DOW GOES THE FARTHER IT CAN FALL
BYLINE: Frank A. Jones''Unfortunately the balance of nature decrees that a superabundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.''
- Peter UstinovThe Dow has pushed over 9,000 and all is well in the financial world. The current U.S. economic environment is about as good as it gets: steady growth in GDP and earnings, low interest rates, no inflation, and no sign of recession.
We have enjoyed seven years of ideal economic conditions. A recent Economic Research Bulletin by Goldman Sachs notes that the exceptional performance of the economy is due to three factors: structural changes, sound management of economic policy, and plain old good luck. ...
Burton Malkiel, a professor of economics at Princeton University, says ''In truth, the generous returns we have enjoyed since the early 1980s have resulted from an economy expanding from double-digit unemployment to ''full' employment and from price/earnings ratios rising from less than eight to almost 24. But the economy now is close to capacity, and it is hardly likely that P/E ratios will triple again.'' ...
The accompanying table shows some statistics from Merrill Lynch Quantitative Analysis based on the S&P 500 that indicate a relatively high valuation on stock prices. The average U.S company is selling at 5.7 times its book value vs. a 20-year low of 1.1 times book. As a friend of mine said recently, ''The only inflation we have seen is in the price of stocks.''
Malkiel says ''U.S. stocks may not be overvalued, but they are richly valued and risky.'' He goes on to say that he is not making a call to sell stocks, but is suggesting that new money might be appropriately placed in other assets.
THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Copyright 1998 Star-Telegram Newspaper, Inc.
April 19, 1998, Sunday
HEADLINE: 1911; The 1900's; A weekly countdown to the third millenium
BYLINE: Star-Telegram
THIS WEEK: 1911As the countdown to the third millennium inexorably ticks toward Dec. 31, 1999, we are taking Star-Telegram readers on a stroll through the final century of the second millennium. We are featuring a single year of the 20th century on each Sunday leading to the turn of the millennial calendar. ...
Political moves
In November, New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson announces that he will seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at next year's convention. The former president of Princeton University is rated a distinct dark horse; most party regulars are lining up behind Champ Clark of Missouri to make the run against Republican President William Howard Taft. ...
The Houston Chronicle
Copyright 1998 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
April 19, 1998, SundayHEADLINE: Big bank theories offered; What will mergers mean to customer?
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle News ServiceDepending on your perspective, the megabank mergers announced last week could result in one of two things.
One view, espoused by consumer groups, is that the rash of bank consolidations will result in less competition and a drive for ever-higher profits, spawning higher transaction fees for consumers and fewer loans to small business owners.
The other perspective, as touted by bank executives, is that the mergers enable them to offer a wider variety of financial services for consumers, making customers' lives easier to manage. ...
That said, there is still disagreement over the potential efficiencies in moving from a world of $30 billion regional banks to one of $300 billion national banks. The merged entities may get some mileage from closing branches, integrating computer systems and combining specialized services - for example, financing trade with Latin America.
But there is "extreme skepticism" among researchers that the cost savings will offset the inherent inefficiencies of running larger corporations, said former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, who teaches at Princeton University. ...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 19, 1998 SundayHEADLINE: A deceptive sadness: The acclaimed poetry of UW's John Koethe only scratches his surface
BYLINE: MARY CAROLE MCCAULEY
SOURCE: Journal Sentinel staffLoss drifts through John Koethe's poems like smoke, faintly smudging the page.
The aroma is unmistakable in "Falling Water," Koethe's third book of poetry, a work that was just awarded a major $50,000 prize, a work that unequivocally establishes Milwaukee's philosopher-poet as a figure in contemporary American letters.
Reviewers inevitably catch a whiff of sadness and feel compelled to speculate about it. ...
He was a student scientist with real potential. A rocketry project he designed as a high school sophomore beat out hundreds of submissions from students throughout the United States and placed fourth in the National Science Fair. Two years later, he enrolled in Princeton University with plans to become a mathematical physicist. ...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Copyright 1998 Journal Sentinel Inc.
April 19, 1998 SundayHEADLINE: T.S. Eliot would have been bored
BYLINE: PHIL HANRAHANSOURCE: Special to the Journal Sentinel
The Archivist. By Martha Cooley. Little, Brown and Co. 328 pages. $22.95.
A decade ago, English biographer Lyndall Gordon published part two of her authoritative account of the life of poet T.S. Eliot. In that work, she brought to light a woman for whom the famously buttoned-up Eliot may have harbored a lifelong passion but a passion after his remote and cerebral style, kept neatly clothed by trans-Atlantic distance.
This woman was Emily Hale. Born high in Boston, she knew Eliot well during his Harvard years but saw him not more than two or three times thereafter, following his move to London and 1915 marriage to Vivienne Haigh-Wood. Hale and Eliot stayed intimate, though, through letters.
In a monumental correspondence begun on Hale's part while living in Milwaukee in the late 1920s (she taught speech and drama at Downer Women's College, now part of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee campus), hundreds upon hundreds of letters were exchanged. It appears Eliot burned Hale's correspondence toward the end of his life; but Hale, in a gift of over a thousand letters, bequeathed Eliot's side of the exchange to Princeton University.
The catch? No one gets access to this collection until 2019.
It is first novelist Martha Cooley's inspiration to invent a graying archivist charged with safeguarding this precious cache, among other duties. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times CompanyApril 19, 1998, Sunday
HEADLINE: If I Had a Hammer
BYLINE: By GEORGE JAMESEDWARD A. SMITH, a commercial contractor, was there in 1984 when Paterson Habitat for Humanity undertook its first affordable-housing project in the old industrial city.
"I framed the first house," he said.
And last Saturday -- 70 houses later -- he was there again. Only this time he was the group's project director, overseeing about 50 volunteers, as diverse as a roofer and an orthodontist, as they banged away with hammers during the rough framing of a duplex on East Third Street that would become the first homes to be owned by another two poor families. ...
From Theory to Practice On Urban Development
Martin Johnson still has the build of the running back that he was at Princeton University, but it is his scholarly side that helped to create Isles 17 years ago and still guides the nonprofit agency that designs and implements community development programs in Trenton.
His commitment is sustained by a visceral understanding of the bleak daily existence of the people that Isles serves, knowledge that is rooted in memories of his childhood in Akron, Ohio, growing up in a working poor family with a father who disappeared and a mother who took ill.
A (scholarship) to Princeton saved him. And his studies there in cultural anthropology led to the creation, with several Princeton professors and students, of Isles as a means of building leadership and a strong economy in Trenton's poor neighborhoods.
Since 1990, Isles -- short for islands of redevelopment -- has completed construction or rehabilitation of 85 units of affordable housing using minority contractors or its own construction crew. It has another 90 under construction and another 109 on the drawing boards. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 19, 1998, SundayHEADLINE: IN BRIEF; McCarter Theater Getting A Second, Smaller Stage
BYLINE: By ALVIN KLEINThe McCarter in Princeton has been producing various small-scale theater pieces over the years, even though the theater has not had an intimate performing space to call its own.
That meant the audience would be seated in various configurations surrounding the play. During some productions the actors and the audience shared the McCarter's vast stage -- with a sea of empty seats out front.
No more. Plans for construction of a 350-seat proscenium theater -- a real second stage -- on the theater's south side were announced earlier this month. The project is to include rehearsal halls, offices and a lobby.
Princeton University will also hold theater and dance classes in the new space. The 1,075-seat McCarter, with all its amenities, is the result of a major renovation project that cost $11.6 million over six years, completed in 1991.The estimated cost of the new project, to be raised by the theater and the university, is $8 million. No architect and no design plans have yet been set.
The Observer
Copyright 1998 Guardian Newspapers Limited
April 19, 1998HEADLINE: The euro - ideal for drug barons
BYLINE: BY ANTHONY BROWNETHE drug barons of Colombia and the Russian mafia could be among the main beneficiaries of the single European currency, according to a book out tomorrow. Large denomination euro notes will make it easier and cheaper to smuggle their illegal profits across borders.
Smuggling cash can account for up to half the cost of drug-running. The largest value note will be 500 euros (about pounds 350), whereas the $100 note is worth only around pounds 60. The dollar is the smugglers' preferred currency. '$1 million in $100 notes fits in a briefcase; $1m worth of 500 euro notes could be packed in a purse,' claims Kenneth Rogoff, of Princeton university.
'The demand for large denomination notes comes mainly from agents interested in storing and transporting very large sums . . . such agents tend to be involved in the underground economy.' ...
Press Journal
Copyright 1998 Scripps Howard Newspapers (Vero Beach, FL)
April 19, 1998, SundayHEADLINE: 10 ST. ED'S GIRLS MAKE FLORIDA LACROSSE TEAM
BYLINE: PETER LaLIME Special To The Press JournalORLANDO - Michele Sternberg was optimistic that her St. Edward's players would fare well in Saturday's tryouts for the state lacrosse team, but she never expected results this good.
Of the 16 players Sternberg brought to Orlando, 10 were named to Florida's inaugural state girls lacrosse squad following a grueling day-long drill and scrimmage tryout session at Lake Howell High School. ...
Heretofore, Florida had been denied a place in the national tourney by the U.S. Women's Lacrosse Association based on a lack of participation in the sport statewide. But Sternberg flew to Princeton University last December to convince the USWLA gathering otherwise. ...
The Record
Copyright 1998 Bergen Record Corp. (Bergen County, NJ)
April 19, 1998HEADLINE: FOOTBALL WAS A VALUABLE LESSON
COLUMN: NORTH JERSEY SCHOLARBYLINE: KAET SAKS, Staff Writer
John Matthew Peluse, who prefers to be called Matthew, credits a single major influence for his outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements.
The recently designated Class of '98 valedictorian at Glen Rock High School is convinced that "it's football that wound up helping me become what I am today, with my work ethic and my style of life. It's given me a sense of discipline and excitement." ...
Having received early decision admission from Princeton University, Matthew plans to major in biochemical engineering and "get into something in biochemistry, because it is the greatest challenge for me and I plan to specialize in it in college." He added that he then wants to "go into the fight against cancer or against AIDS; I'm not sure yet."...
The Washington Post
Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
April 19, 1998, SundayHEADLINE: Who Will Decide Between Defect and Perfect?
BYLINE: Jeremy RifkinTonight, NBC will air an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic dystopian novel about a genetically engineered future society. When Huxley wrote "Brave New World" in 1932, no one could have imagined that the scientific insights and technological know-how would exist by the end of this century that could make his vision real.
On March 20, many leading molecular biologists and geneticists met at the University of California at Los Angeles to discuss the prospect of making genetic changes in the human "germ line" -- sperm and eggs -- that would be passed on to future generations. The ability to alter genes before conception raises the possibility that we might be able to re-engineer our genetic blueprints and redirect the course of our biological evolution. ...
Some genetic engineers believe that a future genetocracy is all but inevitable. Molecular biologist Lee Silver of Princeton University writes about a not-too-distant future of two biological classes, which he refers to as the "Gen Rich" and "Naturals." The Gen Rich -- perhaps 10 percent of the population -- include businessmen, musicians, artists, athletes and intellectuals who are society's elite. They have all been enhanced with specific synthetic genes that allow them to succeed in their fields in ways not conceivable among those born of nature's lottery. ...
Wisconsin State Journal
Copyright 1998 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
April 19, 1998, SundayHEADLINE: KEEPING DRAFT IN PERSPECTIVE; FORMER STATE, NORTHWESTERN ATHLETES WAITING ON THE BUBBLE
BYLINE: J. Andrew Cohen Sports reporterEven pushing 300 pounds, Nathan Strikwerda can empathize with those who wish brains meant more to popularity than brawn.
After all, Strikwerda, a former Madison West athlete, is a biomedical engineering major who chose Northwestern over Dartmouth and Princeton. Not exactly your typical background for NCAA Division I centers. ...
Chicago Tribune
Copyright 1998 Chicago Tribune Company
April 19, 1998 SundayHEADLINE: SMOOCHING THROUGH HISTORY;
YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, A KISS IS JUST A ... LEARNED BEHAVIOR?BYLINE: By Carolyn B. Alfvin. Special to the Tribune.
My editors have a cruel streak. They asked me -- a single woman whose lips haven't reached first base in longer than I care to remember -- if I would write an article on K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
"It would be fun to write," they insisted.
"It would more fun to do." ...
- Finally, a 1997 study out of Princeton University concluded that our brains are equipped with neurons that help us find our lovers' lips in the dark. If it's so easy to do in pitch blackness, why did it take 2 million years -- much of it spent in dark caves and all before the invention of the light bulb -- for two sets of lips to find each other? ...
The Columbus Dispatch
Copyright 1998 The Columbus Dispatch
April 18, 1998, SaturdayHEADLINE: EVEN INFINITY MAY HAVE LIMITS
BYLINE: David Lore , Dispatch Science ReporterNew technology is bringing the stars into better focus but also blurring some of physics' foundation beliefs, even reviving the ancient debate whether the universe is infinite or contained. ...
''We're seeing a wild variety of theoretical possibilities,'' said Harvard University astronomer Robert Kirschner during a press conference at the American Physical Society meeting, which opened yesterday at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
''We're getting answers consistent with the big-bang (theory) but we're not getting answers consistent with our theoretical prejudices, and that's a surprise,'' agreed Princeton University astrophysicist David Spergel.
Theorists are having second thoughts about infinity as a result of work in recent years to measure variations in the cosmic microwave radiation, which is the residue of creation, explained Spergel.
''Is the universe finite? It's a theoretical possibility,'' Spergel said.
Infinity, in fact, has always created certain philosophical and theoretical problems, Princeton astrophysicist Edwin Turner said. ...
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Copyright 1998 Journal Sentinel Inc.
April 18, 1998 Saturday FinalHEADLINE: Judge throws out suit against university
SOURCE: Journal Sentinel wire reports
DATELINE: Hartford, Conn.
A judge threw out a lawsuit Thursday by a Princeton graduate and would-be doctor who sued his alma mater for alerting medical schools that he had lied about his academic achievements and background.
The graduate, Rommel Nobay, had admitted he told numerous lies and half-truths in applying to Princeton University and later to medical school. He claimed that he was part African-American and a National Merit Scholar and that a family of lepers had donated half their beggings to support his dream.
When Princeton exposed his lies and wrecked his chances of getting into medical school, he sued the university for defamation and invasion of privacy, seeking unspecified damages. ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
April 18, 1998, SaturdayHEADLINE: Leftist Scholars Look Right At Last, And Find A History
BYLINE: By PATRICIA COHEN
Since postwar leftist radicalism peaked in 1968, conservatives have affixed Ronald Reagan's name to a revolution, the South has deserted the Democrats for the Republicans, the Christian right has pushed its way onto the national stage, and liberal confidence in government action has become about as commonplace as the rotary phone.
Yet historians have all but ignored modern American conservatism. Its founding thinkers like Richard Weaver and Russell Kirk have rarely been read on college campuses; its adherents, from prowar students in the 60's to anti-union women, have been overlooked or dismissed as kooks; its religious underpinnings have been belittled.
"Twentieth century American conservatism has been something of an orphan in historical scholarship," Alan Brinkley, a liberal historian, has declared. ...
In what may be the 90's version of liberal guilt, liberal historians are confessing to what conservatives have always accused them of: bias. "Most historians are looking for people in the past who can be positive examples for the present," says Benjamin Alpers, a liberal historian and co-organizer of a 1996 conference on conservatism at Princeton University. "They're driven to study people they are attracted to, and most historians are not on the right." ...
New Scientist
Copyright 1998 New Scientist IPC Magazines Ltd
April 18, 1998HEADLINE: A matter of balance
BYLINE: Jonathan KnightHIGHLIGHT: Does oestrogen play a role in the way a woman deals with stress ?
FEMALE rats can normally be conditioned more easily than their male siblings, but after stressful events females do worse and males do better, say researchers in New Jersey. They expect to get the same results with humans.
Excessive stress has been shown to impair normal learning in both humans and animals. In a specific type of learning test, however, in which animals are conditioned to expect a puff of air to the eye after hearing a tone and blink automatically, male rats' performance improved after tail shocks. "But no one had looked at females," says Tracey Shors, an experimental psychologist at Princeton University.
With her colleague Gwendolyn Wood, Shors performed the eye-blink test on 44 male and female rats. She exposed some of them to stress beforehand, either by mildly shocking their tails or making them swim for 20 minutes. A day later, after conditioning the rats to expect the puff of air after a tone, she tallied the number of times each rat blinked in response to the tone when no air puff followed.
Unstressed males blinked after the tone about half the time and, as expected, stressed males were more successful, blinking around 80 per cent of the time. But surprisingly, females showed the opposite response. They learnt better without being stressed, blinking 75 per cent of the time - much better than the unstressed males. Stressed females reacted to only 30 per cent of the tones ("Proceedings of the National Academy of Science"s, vol 95, p 4066).
Shors and Wood repeated the experiment with females whose ovaries had been removed. These females did not suffer from the impairment, leading the researchers to suspect that the hormone oestrogen - whose levels rise after stress - may play a key role. To confirm this, they gave females with ovaries a substance that blocks oestrogen receptors and got the same result - stress no longer impaired the female rats' ability to learn. ...
The Washington Times
Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
April 18, 1998, SaturdayHEADLINE: McPherson wins Lincoln Prize
BYLINE: THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Historian James M. McPherson, who has won about every prize except the Pillsbury Bake-Off, has been awarded the 1998 Lincoln Prize, presented annually by the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg College in recognition of excellence in Civil War studies.
"For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War" was judged the best book in the field for 1997. Mr. McPherson, who counts a Pulitzer Prize for history among his many awards, will receive a $30,000 stipend.
He has taught at Princeton University since 1962. ...