UNL graduate gains Nobel Prize
■ Alan Heeger won the award
in chemistry with two other
scientists for work in polymers.
BY VERONICA DAEHN
UNL graduate Alan Heeger
doesn’t have a degree in chem
istry.
But he does have a Nobel
Prize in the subject.
Heeger, a UNL physics and
math major, was chosen as one
of three winners of the Nobel
Prize for chemistry on Oct. 10.
He graduated from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
in 1957.
Heeger, now a physics pro
fessor at the University of
California at Santa Barbara, was
given the prize along with Alan
MacDiarmid of Pennsylvania
and Hideki Shirakawa of Japan
for discovering and developing
plastics that are electrically con
ductive.
“It’s a fairy tale,” Heeger said.
“It’s hard to express it any other
way.”
Plastics have long been
thought of as insulators.
Heeger’s work will allow poly
mers to be used as conductors
in things such as television
screens and cellular-phone dis
plays.
The conductive polymers
have also been used to reduce
static electricity and interfer
ence on film and computer
monitors.
Heeger said winning the
Nobel Prize was never a goal.
“There are hundreds of
thousands of outstanding scien
tists all over the world doing
excellent work,” Heeger said.
“It’s very exciting and very satis
fying to have one’s work recog
nized in this way.”
Heeger attended graduate
school at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York before receiv
ing his doctorate degree from
the University of California at
Berkeley.
UNL laid the foundation for
Heeger’s success in science, he
said.
In the mid-1950s, there
weren't many physics majors,
Heeger said. Because of that, he
was able to connect with faculty
7 used to ask my students Vo you want to be
an engineer and apply things that are already
known, or do you want to be a physicist and
make new discoveries?”’
Ted Jorgensen
Alan Heeger’s physics professor
members on a one-on-one
basis.
There was one professor in
particular whom Heeger said
was influential.
Ted Jorgensen, now nearly
95 years old, taught Heeger
beginning physics.
It was this class that made
Heeger switch his major from
engineering to physics.
"He really opened up mod
em physics to me,” he said.
Jorgensen remembers
Heeger as an outstanding, talka
tive student.
“I used to ask my students
‘Do you want to be an engineer
and apply things that are
already known, or do you want
to be a physicist and make new
discoveries?'” Jorgensen said.
Jorgensen said he felt partly
responsible for directing Heeger
to the area of discovery where he
now excels.
Ed Pearlstein, professor
emeritus of physics and astron
omy at UNL, also remembers
teaching Heeger.
“I had him in one class, and
he was a very enthusiastic stu
dent,” Pearlstein said. “I had
heard about him (from other
teachers) before having him in
class.”
For the next six weeks,
Heeger said he will be preparing
to travel to Sweden, where he
will receive the Nobel Prize from
the King of Sweden on Dec. 10.
When he gets back, he will
continue to work with polymers,
focusing on plastic electronics,
he said.
Candidates'strategies
differ in Senate race
CANDIDATES from page 1
John Soukup, a spokesman
for Stenberg, said Stenberg
wants to develop good relation
ships with other senators and
congressman so he can better
serve Nebraskans.
Stenberg also campaigns
with other Republicans because
he strongly supports his party,
Soukup said.
“Don Stenberg is proud to
be a Republican,” he said.
In contrast, very few
Democrats have come to
Nebraska to pitch for Nelson.
Sen. Bob Kerrey, whose seat
Nelson and Stenberg are fight
ing for, and Sen. Blanche
Lincoln of Arkansas are the only
Democrats to campaign for
Nelson during this campaign,
said Marcia Cady, a spokes
woman for Nelson.
Nelson has been an inde
pendent public official since he
became governor of Nebraska in
1990, Cady said.
“Independence is his style,”
she said.
Cady said Nelson’s lack of
partisanship is reminiscent of
the independence of famous
Nebraska senators Bob Kerrey
and Jim Exon.
Robert Sittig, a political sci
ence professor, said each candi
date’s campaign strategy suits
his needs.
Most Nebraskans are regis
tered Republicans, so it makes
sense for Stenberg to play up his
party loyalty, Sittig said.
Because of his party’s
minority status, Nelson has to
court independent and
Republican voters, so he needs
to play down his party affilia
tion, Sittig said.
Nelson could have famous
Democrats campaigning for
him if they fit into his campaign
strategy, Sittig said.
He said it is common to have
congressmen and senators
campaign for their party’s can
didate.
When it comes down to elec
tion day, only the two candi
dates will be competing, Cady
said.
“The bottom line is that only
two names will appear on the
ballot under the Senate catego
ry,” Cady said.
Stenberg believes showing
his party colors will demon
strate to Nebraskans how he
feels about important issues,
Soukup said.
“But in the end, he will vote
for what is right for Nebraska,”
Soukup said.
Food Services worker
spices up UNL's pizza
SAUCE from page 1
UNL Dining Services is the
first food service business to
buy Stevens’ product.
With his seasoning now
available in a food service bulk,
a lot of avenues have opened
up. He can now market his
product to other universities,
school systems and restaurants.
Stevens said he plans on
expanding the product’s mar
keting within the next couple
months.
"I’m just a local guy who is
trying hard,” Stevens said. “And
I’m hoping someday my sauce
might be a nationwide prod
uct.”
Around UNL, Dining
Services as well as students
have taken notice of a new item
on the buffet.
The new Campus Classic
Pizza gives Dining Services an
opportunity to try new things
with its pizza, while still offer
ing Valentino’s and Papa John’s,
said Pam Edwards, assistant
director of Housing and Dining
Services.
“Everyone likes to have
homemade pizza, and this is a
way for us to do this,” Edwards
said.
But before Stevens could
claim his pizza sauce would be
the one used in Dining Service’s
new pizza, his sauce had to sur
vive a blind taste test.
Stevens’ “Outlaw Spice” sea
soning combined with tomato
sauce won by a landslide over
two other canned sauces.
Stevens said he was
shocked, to say the least.
“Deep in my heart, I didn’t
expect to win,” Stevens said. "I
just wanted the experience.”
Some students said they
liked the new Campus Classic
Pizza, while others thought it
left something to be desired.
"I like the crust,” said Tim
Damar, a freshman meteorolo
gy major. “But they need to
thicken up the sauce some
how.”
Vadim Varchavski, a post
doctorate chemistry major, did
n’t like the new pizza.
“The components of this
pizza are not delicious,”
Varchavski said.
Edwards said Dining
Services is pleased with the
comments about the pizza so
far.
“We applaud him for doing
this,” Edwards said. “He was
taking a risk as a small retail
producer when he decided to
institutionalize it to Dining
Services.”
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I Online college fair crashes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON - College fairs used
to mean fighting through pushy
crowds, gathering stacks of use
less literature and trudging home
with unanswered questions.
So the National Association
for College Admission Counseling
thought it had found the solution
when it put the whole thing online
Thursday.
Then the Web site crashed.
The initial three-hour fair was
cut short when too many people
signed on at once and the server
broke down, leaving chat rooms
inaccessible.
Once the technical glitches
were resolved, the fair was sched
uled to run for a day or two each
month through April.
About 1,200 people registered
for the fair before Thursday, but
more than 5,000 signed on in the
first 15 minutes, NACAC
spokesman Mark Cannon said.
"We were victims of our own
success,” he said. "We hoped this
was a problem we could avoid and
now believe it is just a hiccup. We
have the state-of-the-art technol
ogy we need to make this work.”
More than 200 colleges from
across the country have signed up
to participate in the virtual fairs.
The system will allow parents and
students to ask questions, take vir
tual tours of campuses, and chat
with students, graduates, profes
sors and admissions counselors.
The idea is to make informa
tion about colleges more accessi
ble to students without access to
college fairs, and to those who live
abroad or can't afford to visit a far
away school.
Just as they would at tradition
al college fairs, each school has its
own “exhibit room” - where it lists
vital statistics, answers questions
and provides links to other rele
vant sites.
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