By Li Han

Staff Writer of  Tsinghua News Center

Dr. Arno Penzias, 1978 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Former Chief Scientist of AT&T Bell Labs, and Venture Partner of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), visited Tsinghua October 19 and delivered a speech titled “From Big Bang to Big Bucks”in the Science Building.

Tsinghua Vice President Gong Ke met and had a talk with Dr. Penzias prior to the speech, giving an outline of the university’s recent development in science, humanities, and social sciences.

Dr. Penzias talked about his research and life in recent years. He and Vice President Gong also exchanged ideas on research and laboratory development.

The more than one-hour speech focused on Einstein’s insights and today’s technologies. Dr. Penzias introduced Einstein’s research on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, and relativity. He also talked about the research of Bell Labs and the development of Silicon Valley and technologies. After the speech, he answered several questions from the students. 

Dr. Penzias was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1978 for the discovery of 3K background radiation.

The speech, co-organized by the School of Sciences, the School of Information Science and Technology, and the School of Economics and Management, was part of TEEC (Tsinghua Entrepreneur and Executive Club) Speaker Series. This is the second time Dr. Penzias has visited Tsinghua since 1996.