William F. Marlar was a businessman in Denver, Colorado, who was tragically disabled as a result of a robbery. His wife, Freda Marlar, assumed the management of the business, which prospered under her direction. She was a staunch American patriot and believer in the free enterprise system. At the time the Soviets launched their Sputnik in 1957, she felt that American ingenuity and technical knowledge should be stimulated from the private sector of the economy in an effort to equal and eventually surpass the Soviet space accomplishments. To aid in this purpose she established the William F. Marlar Memorial Foundation, which has continued to promote her initial purposes through university grants, since her death in 1968. The Marlar Lecture Series, established in 1982, brings a distinguished scientist from the fields of space physics or astronomy to Rice each year to present both a technical seminar and a general public talk on the most exciting current topics of these fields. Previous Marlar Lecturers and their topics are shown below.
25. Dr. Mike Brown California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA How I killed Pluto and why it had it coming March 30, 2010
24. Dr. Neil Gehrels NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,MD Black Holes: "From Einstein to Gamma Ray Bursts" April 7, 2009
23. Dr. Edward Stone California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA Exploring the Final Frontier of the Solar System April 19, 2007
22. Dr. John Brown Astronomer Royal, University of Glasgow, Scotland Black Holes and White Rabbits March 9, 200621. Dr. Geoff Marcy University of California, Berkeley Planets, Yellowstone, and the Prospects for Life in the Universe September 14, 200420 Dr. Louis J. Lanzerotti Bell Laboratories Weather in Space: Effects on Technologies March 18, 200319. Dr. Alex Filippenko University of California, Berkeley Einstein's Biggest Blunder? The Case for Cosmic Antigravity April 25, 200218. Dr. James L. Burch Southwest Research Institute The Fury of Space Storms March 28, 200117. Dr. Frank Shu University of California, Berkeley The Origin of Sunlike Stars and Planetary Systems November 17, 199916. Dr. Alexander J. Dessler Professor Emeritus, Rice University Giant Airships and the Space Shuttle: An Historical Analogy April 15, 199815. Dr. Robert E. Williams Director, Space Telescope Science Institute Probing the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope March 6, 199714. Dr. Sidney van den Bergh Dominion Astronomical Observatory, Canada Asteroids and Dinosaurs March 13, 199613. Dr. Charles F. Kennel NASA Headquarters Global Environmental Science at the Turn of the Millennium April 6, 1995 12. Dr. David Schramm University of Chicago Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe March 8, 199411. Dr. Susan Solomon Aeronomy Lab ERL/NOAA Ozone Depletion at the ends of the Earth and Points in Between November 11, 199210. Dr. Eric P. Priest St. Andrews University Our Dynamic Sun March 25, 19929. Dr. Joseph H. Taylor Princeton University Pulsars, Clocks and Gravity October 24, 19908. Dr. John Imbrie Brown University Explaining the Ice Ages November 1, 19897. Dr. G. Haerendel Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrial Physics Exploring Comets by Direct Encounter and by Space Simulation March 17, 1988 6. Dr. James E. Gunn Princeton University Galaxy Formation April 20, 1987 5. Dr. Alexander Dalgarno Harvard University Molecules in the Universe April 4, 1986 4. Sir Fred Hoyle Fellow of the Royal Society, UK Facts Concerning the Existence of Extraterrestrial Life April 23, 1985 3. Dr. Michael McElroy Harvard University Planetary Atmospheres April 17-19, 19842. Dr. E. E. Salpeter Cornell University Galaxy Clusters and Invisible Mass in the Universe April 14, 19831. Dr. Eugene N. Parker Enrico Fermi Institute Why are there Spots on the Sun? March 25, 1982
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