UC San Diego Physicist Flexes ‘BICEP’ to Introduce Controversial New Book
Brian Keating discusses how his work on a telescope at the South Pole led to a story about the world’s most prestigious award
In 1895 Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite sat at a desk in Paris and secretly wrote out his last will and testament. In that document, the man known to many as “the Merchant of Death” stipulated that his vast wealth be distributed in the form of yearly prizes to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.” In the following years, the Nobel Prize would become the world’s most prestigious honor. Each December, thousands of the world’s elites arrive in Stockholm to dine on reindeer with the King of Sweden in celebration of the achievements of humankind.
Yet, as the University of California San Diego’s Brian Keating explains in his new book “there’s something rotten in Sweden.” Voted one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Month, “Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor” is described as a shot across the bow from Keating and a plea to reform the award that has captivated generations, but often comes at a high price.
Keating will be reading and discussing the book at several events in southern California, including a conversation at UC San Diego on April 25 at 5:30 p.m. in Atkinson Hall Auditorium, co-hosted by the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and the UC San Diego Library, a source for several of the historical photographs in the publication. A book signing and reception will follow the discussion. The event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. All books purchased at the event will receive a limited edition gold-plated bookmark, commemorating the book launch. Seating is not guaranteed. RSVP, here. Read more…