Four from Caltech Named to National Academy of Sciences

PASADENA-Three members at the California Institute of Technology faculty and one former faculty who is now a visiting associate are among the 72 new members and 18 foreign associates being named to the National Academy of Sciences today. The election was announced during the 142nd annual meeting of the Academy in Washington, D.C.

Caltech's newest members are Richard Andersen, the Boswell Professor of Neuroscience; James Eisenstein, the Roshek Professor of Physics; and Wallace Sargent, the Bowen Professor of Astronomy. Roger Blandford, a former Caltech faculty member and current visiting associate in physics, is also among the electees.

Membership in the National Academy of Sciences is considered one of the most important honors that a scientist can achieve. In addition to the 1,976 active members of the academy following today's election, 360 foreign associates are also listed in the organization's roster as nonvoting members.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.

Andersen is a neuroscientist who has garnered considerable attention in recent years for his progress toward the goal of controlling prosthetic devices with brain signals. Much of his current work focuses on severely paralyzed human patients who can think about making movements, but due to brain lesions from trauma, stroke, or peripheral neuropathies, can no longer make movements. His approach is to create brain-implant technology that will act as an interface between a patient's thoughts for movement and artificial limbs, computers, or other devices, that would "read out" the patient's desires.

Eisenstein is a specialist in condensed-matter physics, which involves the exploration of the fundamental laws of nature as they apply to atoms and molecules that comprise solid matter. His most significant research accomplishment in the last year has been his demonstration that unusual particles known as "excitons" can inhabit solid semiconductor materials in such a way that each exciton loses its individual identity and, in certain ways, a large collection of excitons becomes a single quantum entity.

Sargent is particularly well-known in the astrophysical community for his work in spectroscopy. His research in extragalactic spectroscopy provided the first evidence for a black hole in galaxy M87, and his work on intergalactic gas has led to new insights on the primeval materials of the early universe. His work in the stellar spectroscopy of A-type stars led to the discovery of the He3 isotope in the star 3 Centauri.

Blandford is a former faculty member in the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy at Caltech. He is currently a visiting associate in physics at Caltech and the Pehong and Adele Chen Professor of Physics and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University, where he is also director of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Cosmology.

Today's election brings the total number of Caltech faculty members of the National Academy of Sciences to 70.