Dr. Sylvester Gates, Renowned Physicist, Guest Speaker at DSU Nov. 7

Delaware State University will welcome Dr. Sylvester J. Gates, Jr., a prominent American theoretical physicist and a 2013 National Medal of Science recipient, who will be a guest speaker at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7 in the second-floor classroom auditorium (room 223) of the Mishoe Science Center South.

Sylvester J. Gates, Jr.

 

The event is free and open to the public.

 

Dr. Gates is an University System Regents Professor, a John S. Toll professor of physics, at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a former appointee of the President’s “Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

 

He is known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory.  In 1984, working with M.T. Grisaru, M. Rocek and W. Siegel, Dr. Gates co-authorized Superspace, the first comprehensive book on the topic of supersymmetry.  He is a member of the board of trustees of Society for Science & the Public and the Board of Directors for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

 

Dr. Gates has been featured extensively on many NOVA PBS programs on physics, notably “The Elegant Universe” in 2003, and ‘‘The Fabric of the Cosmos’’ in 2011.  In 2006, he completed a DVD series titled Superstring Theory: The DNA of Reality for The Teaching Company composed of 24 half-hour lectures to make the complexities of unification theory comprehensible to non-physicists. 

 

He is past president of the National Society of Black Physicists, and a NSBP Fellow, as well as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Physics in the U.K.  He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the American Philosophical Society. 

 

Dr. Gates was presented the Medal of Science, the highest award given to scientists in the U.S., by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony in 2013 and elected to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the first African-American physicist so recognized in its 150-year history.