Lima is the hometown of one of the world’s most famous astrophysicists. William A. Fowler won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his efforts to show how all the natural elements in the Periodic Table are forged under extreme conditions across the course of a star’s lifetime.
Stardust: The William A. Fowler Science Series honors Fowler’s achievements and is a collaboration between the City of Lima, the Lima City Schools and The Ohio State University at Lima. The focus of the second annual series will be the cross disciplinary power of biomedical science and research. Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, Director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center CEO of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, will be the keynote speaker at the William Fowler Science Series 2016 community event at 7 p.m., Wed., Nov. 30, 2016, in Ohio State Lima’s Martha W. Farmer Theatre for the Performing Arts in Reed Hall.
“It is a wonderful fact that Dr. Fowler grew up in Lima, was educated in the Lima City Schools and at the Ohio State University,” said Lima Mayor David Berger. ”And working together — OSU, the Lima City Schools and the City — we have decided to showcase that fact in order to emphasize the incredible, literally mind-blowing, opportunities created by education.”
Fowler grew up in Lima and attended Horace Mann Grade School and Lima Central High School. He went on to graduate from The Ohio State University before moving to the California Institute of Technology to continue his groundbreaking work in the new field of astrophysics. His theory of the formation of the chemical elements in the universe forms the basis of our knowledge in this field, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the original announcement of Fowler’s Nobel Prize.
Students in the Lima City Schools will work on concepts and projects dealing with the science of biomedical research throughout the fall term. Their projects will be on display for the culminating public event on Nov. 30.
The students will also be working with Dr. Jessica Winter, a cancer researcher with a dual appointment in biomedical engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State, prior to their own visit to campus during the day on Nov. 30. Students at Lima Senior will interview Winter to incorporate her experiences as a cancer survivor, engineer and researcher into career exploration projects they are developing looking at the life of a scientist. Dr. Winter will speak to the students in person on Nov. 30.
Students from the South Science and Technology Magnet will use the stories of cancer survivors to engage their audience and themselves with the science behind healing through a documentary on surviving cancer that will premiere at the community talk with Dr. Caligiuri in the evening. Students are working with Modo Media on the project.
Students from the biology and anatomy classes at Lima Senior and eighth graders from the Science and Technology Magnet and West will spend the day on campus learning how they, too, can begin to pursue careers in science, technology and the arts in Lima.