A symposium honoring Nobel laureate Robert C. Richardson, the Floyd R. Newman Professor of Physics and director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell, will bring speakers from university, industrial and government research programs to campus to discuss low-temperature physics and the role of scientific research, Saturday, April 12, in Schwartz Auditorium in Rockefeller Hall.

After a welcome by Cornell Provost Biddy Martin, the symposium will feature three sessions: Low Temperature Physics, The Role of Industrial Research in the 20th Century and The Role of University Research in the 21st Century. Speakers include representatives of the National Research Council, National Science Foundation, Bell Labs, IBM, the Mellon Foundation and several major research universities.

Richardson has served Cornell for more than 40 years as a charismatic teacher, a researcher delving into the once-uncharted curiosities of low-temperature physics and most recently as senior vice provost for research. He shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in physics with David M. Lee, Cornell professor of physics, and Douglas Osheroff, Ph.D. '73, now a physics professor at Stanford University, for their 1971 discovery of the superfluid state of helium-3 -- appropriately, in the basement of Clark Hall. Lee and Osheroff are expercted to attend.

Portions of the symposium will be made available on CornellCast.

As vice provost, Richardson helped solidify Cornell's position as a leader in the sciences. He was a member of the Research Futures Task Force, which identified core areas of research -- materials science, genomics and nanoscale science -- that would become a major focus for Cornell investment. At the national level he has served on the National Science Board, which oversees broad policy issues related to science and engineering research and education. After stepping down as vice provost, he has assumed the role of senior science adviser to Martin and Cornell President David Skorton.

The symposium is sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

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Correction: The research that led to the 1996 Nobel Prize was conducted in Clark Hall, not Rockefeller as originally written.