Laureate Lecturer Series

Nearly every year since 1976, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (CNSM) Student Council invites a laureate to speak to the Cal State Long Beach campus.

The series was originally named the Nobel Laureate Lecturer Series, but in 2023 the scope was expanded to include other prestigious awards such as the Crafoord Prize; this has enabled the CNSM Student Council to invite professionals from a more diverse range of fields.

A history of these speakers can be found below.

Andrew Knoll, PhD

2023 Laureate Lecturer

Crafoord Prize in Geosciences in 2022
"for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the first three billion years of life on Earth and life’s interactions with the physical environment through time."

Donna Strickland, PhD

2022 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018
"for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses."

Robert H. Grubbs, PhD

2019 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005
"for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis."

William Phillips, PhD

2018 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1997
"for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light."

William E. Moerner, PhD

2017 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014
"for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy."

Sir Richard Roberts, PhD

2016 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1993
"for the discovery of split genes."

Eric Wieschaus, PhD

2010 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995
"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development."

F. Sherwood Rowland, PhD

2008 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995
"for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone."

Douglas Osheroff, PhD

2007 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1996
"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3."

Roger Guillemin, PhD

2006 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain."

Alan J. Heeger, PhD

2005 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2000
"for the discovery and development of conductive polymers."

Edmond H. Fischer, PhD

2003 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1992
"for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism."

Walter Kohn, PhD

2002 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1998
"for his development of the density-functional theory."

Douglas D. Osheroff, PhD

2000 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1996
"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3."

Paul Boyer, PhD

1999 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1997
"for their elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)."

Thomas R. Cech, PhD

1998 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989
"for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA."

Edward B. Lewis, PhD

1997 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995
"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development."

George A. Olah, PhD

1996 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1994
"for his contribution to carbocation chemistry."

Kary B. Mullis, PhD

1995 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993
"for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method."

Rudolph A. Marcus, PhD

1994 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992
"for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems."

Arthur L. Schawlow, PhD

1993 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1981
"for their contribution of the development of laser spectroscopy."

Subramanyan Chandresekhar, PhD

1992 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1983
"for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars."

James D. Watson, PhD

1991 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."

Linus C. Pauling, PhD

1990 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954
"for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances."

Donald J. Cram, PhD

1989 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1987
"for their development and use of molecules with structure- specific interactions of high selectivity."

Baruch S. Blumberg, PhD

1988 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976
"for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases."

William Lipscomb, PhD

1987 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1976
"for his studies on the structure of boranes illuminating problems of chemical bonding."

Ilya Prigogine, PhD

1986 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977
"for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures."

Francis H.C. Crick, PhD

1985 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."

Paul Berg, PhD

1984 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980
"for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA."

Gerald M. Edelman, PhD

1983 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1972
"for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies."

Roger Guillemin, PhD

1982 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain."

Melvin Calvin, PhD

1981 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1961
"for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants."

Rosalyn Yalow, PhD

1980 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
"for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones."

Richard P. Feynman, PhD

1979 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1965
"for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles."

Arthur Kornberg, PhD

1978 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959
"for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid."

Francis H.C. Crick, PhD

1977 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
"for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."

Donald A. Glaser, PhD

1976 Laureate Lecturer

Nobel Prize in Physics 1960
"for the invention of the bubble chamber."