1/19/2000
MATHEMATICIAN PENROSE TO SPEAK AT AU AS FRANKLIN LECTURER
AUBURN -- Noted mathematician Sir Roger Penrose will speak at Auburn University on Jan. 24, as part of the 1999-2000 Littleton-Franklin Lectures in Science and Humanities.
Penrose, the Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, will speak on "The Science of the Mind" at 4 p.m. in AU's Hotel and Dixon Conference Center auditorium.
In addition, Penrose will speak to classes on the AU campus on Jan. 25.
Penrose received the 1988 Wolf Prize, which he shared with Stephen Hawking for their contributions to the understanding of the universe. He has also received the Royal Society Royal Medal and the Albert Einstein prize.
In 1994 Penrose was knighted for his services to science.
His 1989 book, The Emperor's New Mind, became a best-seller and won the 1990 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize. His latest book -- Shadows of the Mind -- presents a "new science of consciousness" and contends that human thought is incomputable.
The Littleton-Franklin Lectures, sponsored since 1968 by the John and Mary Franklin Foundation of Atlanta, also recognizes the services of Mosley Professor Emeritus Taylor D. Littleton.
In its 33rd year, the 1999-2000 lecture series will include as speakers: Margaret Wertheim, Feb. 7; Richard Leakey, Feb. 14; Helen Thomas, April 24; and William Phillips, May 18.
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CONTACT: Littleton-Franklin committee chair Philip Shevlin, 334/844-4043.