From Ernst Lawrence, who earned a Nobel Prize for cyclotron physics in
1939, to George Akerlof, who shared the 2001 prize in economics, 18
Berkeley professors and researchers have received the Nobel Prize --- 17
for scientific achievement and one for literary success. These noble 18
are being honored with a 66-banner display on Telegraph, Bancroft and
Durant, scheduled to be installed at the beginning of April.
The brainstorm behind the banners belongs to Andy Ross, owner of Cody's
bookstore and president of the Telegraph Area Business Improvement
District (BID). Flying banners to promote pride of place has become common
in recent years, but as he points out, "The ones we had on Telegraph
were stale. One had a pizza on it. Berkeley's not about fast food.
Berkeley's a great intellectual center, the Athens of the west --- and I
don't mean Athens, Georgia." Spurred by his annoyance with the status
quo, Ross came up with lots of ideas for banners, including Berkeley in
the Sixties, Famous Berkeley writers and the Nobel winners.
The Telegraph business group decided to move forward with the Nobel
banners as a first project and approached the university, which responded
with enthusiasm. John Hickey, design director of University
Communications, designed the handsome banners; the Telegraph BID paid for
their production; and the city of Berkeley approved the project and helped
with installation. Each banner is 2-feet wide by 7-feet tall, and features
a black-and-white image of a Nobel laureate, along with his name, dates
and field of expertise.
"I like the idea of the Telegraph area and the university celebrating
something together," Ross said. "I'm hoping it will be
educational, too. People will want to come to Telegraph and do a walking
tour to see the banners."
For a complete listing of all 18 winners and their achievements, visit http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeyan/2001/10/17_time.html
