Nobelity

Last updated
Nobelity
Directed by Turk Pipkin
Written byTurk Pipkin
Produced by
Starring
Edited by Chet Hirsch
Distributed by Monterey Media
Release date
  • 20 March 2006 (2006-03-20)
LanguageEnglish

Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai.

Contents

The film interviews each of the nine Nobel Prize winners discussing their vision for the world over the next 50 years.

Nobelity was premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival and was the first of several sold-out screenings at Austin's 1,200-seat Paramount Theatre. [1] The film has continued to be shown in theaters, at universities and schools, and in community centers and churches, as well as being released on DVD. Nobelity was written and directed by writer, actor and filmmaker Turk Pipkin and produced by Christy Pipkin, in association with The Nobelity Project.

The Laureates

Steve Weinberg, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979

Steven Weinberg holds the Josey Regental Chair in Science at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a member of the Physics and Astronomy Departments. His research on elementary particles and cosmology has been honored with numerous prizes and awards. In 1979, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a field theory that unifies the weak and electromagnetic nuclear forces within the atom.

In 1991, Weinberg was presented the National Medal of Science. In 2004, he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences of the American Philosophical Society, with a citation saying he is "considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today".

Among his many writings on theoretical physics are several books for scientists and lay readers alike, including The First Three Minutes, an eye-opening look at the origins of social commentary, and for his views on the essential role of science in society. Many of his writings on these and other subjects have appeared in The New York Review of Books.

"Science can tell you how to achieve certain things if you want to achieve them," Dr. Weinberg told Turk Pipkin during their conversations for Nobelity, "but it can’t tell you what you ought to achieve. There is an unbridgeable gulf between questions of what is and questions of what ought to happen."

Weinberg also works closely with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent non-profit alliance of more than 100,000 concerned citizens and scientists which augments scientific analysis with innovative thinking and committed citizen advocacy to build a cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world.

Richard E. Smalley, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996

Dr. Richard E. Smalley was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the Buckministerfullerene or Buckyball, a unique molecular structure of 60 carbon atoms. Some of the strongest materials ever discovered, carbon nanostructures are currently being used in numerous practical applications.

Smalley's interest in science began in his early teens, and he has been an eloquent spokesman for the need to educate a new generation of scientists to find solutions to the world's problems. "Be a Scientist — Save the World" was the title of his lecture on the great energy challenges we face in the coming decades. Finding a new source of clean and reliable energy," he argued, "would enable us to solve numerous other world problems, including the need for clean water and plentiful food."

"There are good things about challenges," Smalley told Turk Pipkin while filming at Smalley's office at Rice University. "Challenge brings forth the best instincts of our youth and ourselves, and urges us on to develop technologies that would otherwise not get developed, so I see this as a good opportunity for the nation to seize on, and frankly for the world."

After a long battle with leukemia, Smalley died at age 62 on October 28, 2005.

Dr. Harold E. Varmus, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1989

Former Director of the National Institute of Health under President Bill Clinton, Dr. Harold E. Varmus is currently[ when? ] the President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. A noted cancer biologist, Varmus is also a cyclist and a passionate advocate for increased health care spending and medical research around the world.

"As a fraction of our gross national product, the U.S. is at the bottom of the 22 wealthiest nations on a list of donors," he pointed out to Turk Pipkin during filming for Nobelity. "Furthermore, only one-eighth of our foreign aid goes to health, and it doesn’t all go to the poorest countries."

In 1989, Varmus was awarded the Nobel Prize with J. Michael Bishop in recognition of their breakthrough research in identifying oncogenes, the discovery of which has dramatically improved our ability to understand and control cancer.

Varmus is also the co-founder of the Public Library of Science, a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to opening the doors to the world's library of scientific knowledge by giving any scientist, physician, patient or student – anywhere in the world – unlimited access to the latest scientific research.

Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize, 1997

Along with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which she helped to found, Jody Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1997 for her work in the creation of an international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. At the time of the ICBL's founding, tens of millions of mines were deployed around the world in 80 countries, and each year mines were claiming as many as fifty thousand new victims — most of them civilians, many of them children — who were crippled, maimed and blinded by mines.

The treaty has since been signed by 152 countries (but not the U.S.), and more than 1,100 square kilometers of land have been cleared, destroying 4 million anti-personnel mines, nearly 1 million anti-vehicle mines, and many more millions of pieces of unexploded ordnance. Adding to these accomplishments, 62 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed.

In addition to being the chief strategist and spokesperson for the Campaign, Williams is an eloquent speaker on human rights, on the role of civil society in international diplomacy, and on individual initiative in bringing about social change.

"Every act you take on this planet contributes in one way or another to an outcome," says Jody. "When we launched the mine ban, we didn’t know what we would accomplish. But we did know it was the right thing to do."

Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1999

The Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, Ahmed Zewail was educated in his native Egypt before moving to America to attend Alexandria University and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his PhD.

Zewail was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his seminal work in the field of femtochemistry, which made it possible to observe molecular changes measured in femtoseconds, a measurement equal to a millionth of a billionth of a second. This work has greatly expanded our understanding of molecular structure and the dynamics of matter, and has led to entire new fields of practical applications in technology and life sciences.

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize, 2004

The first environmentalist to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai is the founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement (GBM), a grassroots non-governmental organization (NGO) which has created opportunity and change in the life of rural African women and dramatically improved the Kenyan environment through the planting of 30 million trees.

Sir Joseph Rotblat, Nobel Peace Prize, 1995

Born in Poland where he received his PhD, nuclear physicist and peace activist Sir Joseph Rotblat spent the past sixty years fighting against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Along with Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, Rotblat was one of eleven scientists who in 1955 signed the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, a letter to the world calling for a total ban on nuclear weapons.

Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998

Indian economist Amartya Sen is one of the world's leading authorities on human development, human rights and the causes of famine. Currently[ when? ] the Lamont University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, Sen is the author of numerous books, including the landmark work, Development as Freedom, in which he demonstrates that famine is not caused by a lack of food, but by an inability to purchase or acquire food due to poverty or a lack of a variety of freedoms.

Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as "a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa".

After the fall of apartheid, Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was widely credited with helping South Africa avoid revenge oriented bloodshed following the fall of apartheid.

Festivals and awards

Current projects

While filming at a school in Kenya which had no water or electricity, Pipkin was inspired to join with his wife in a larger endeavor, the education and action charity, The Nobelity Project, dedicated to a better world for children everywhere. The Project has also produced a sequel to Nobelity, One Peace at a Time , which focuses on solutions to the problems chronicled in the first film. Proceeds from the films serve as an endowment for current and future education projects, including Mahiga Hope High School; A high school in rural Kenya built by the Nobelity Project, and the subject of their 3rd feature documentary Building Hope

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Kroto</span> English chemist (1939–2016)

Sir Harold Walter Kroto was an English chemist. He shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for their discovery of fullerenes. He was the recipient of many other honors and awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobel Prize</span> Prizes established by Alfred Nobel in 1895

The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes awarded to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind, as established by the 1895 will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist Alfred Nobel, in the year before he died. Prizes were first awarded in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel's will indicated that the awards should be granted in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. A sixth prize for Economic Sciences, endowed by Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and first presented in 1969, is also frequently included, as it is also administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Zewail</span> Egyptian chemist (1946–2016)

Ahmed Hassan Zewail was an Egyptian and American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry". He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry and became the first Egyptian and Arab to win a Nobel Prize in a scientific field, and the second African to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was the Linus Pauling Chair Professor of Chemistry, a professor of physics, and the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at the California Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Weinberg</span> American theoretical physicist (1933–2021)

Steven Weinberg was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jody Williams</span> American political activist (born 1950)

Jody Williams is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights, and her efforts to promote new understandings of security in today's world. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work toward the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Campaign to Ban Landmines</span> International organization

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose stated objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their rights respected and can lead fulfilling lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Rotblat</span> Polish physicist (1908–2005)

Sir Joseph Rotblat was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became clear to him in 1944 that Germany had ceased development of an atomic bomb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs</span> International organization

The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was founded in 1957 by Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada, following the release of the Russell–Einstein Manifesto in 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold E. Varmus</span> American scientist (born 1939)

Harold Eliot Varmus is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wangarĩ Maathai</span> Kenyan environmental and political activist (1940–2011)

Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

One Peace at a Time is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and was premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, USA, on April 14, 2009. It is the sequel to the film Nobelity. It has been shown in various countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Nobelity Project</span>

TheNobelity Project is a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas, USA. It was founded by Christy and Turk Pipkin in 2005, while producing the film Nobelity. Their mission is to increase access to quality education and better the lives of children across the globe. The Nobelity Project's programs relate to educational and environmental progress. Their films include Nobelity (2006), One Peace at a Time (2009), and Building Hope (2011). In 2010, the Pipkins spoke at this TED conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</span> One of the five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Alfred Nobel

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on proposal of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry which consists of five members elected by the Academy. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turk Pipkin</span>

Turk Pipkin is an author, actor, comedian and director. He is the co-founder of The Nobelity Project, a non-profit organization which seeks to find solutions to global problems, and which advocates for basic rights for children. He was a lifelong friend of Harry Anderson up until Anderson's death in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Science Festival</span> Annual science festival produced by the World Science Foundation

The World Science Festival is an annual science festival hosted by the World Science Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City. There is also an Asia-Pacific event held in Brisbane, Australia.

Building Hope is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and premiered on March 12 at the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. It is the sequel to the film One Peace at a Time.

The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognise basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of the largest and most prestigious awards in the field of chemistry. Several of its recipients subsequently were awarded the Nobel Prize.

PeaceJam is a US-based global youth organization led by Nobel Peace laureates. It was founded by musical artist Ivan Suvanjieff and his wife, the economist Dawn Engle in 1993.

References

  1. ↑ "Austinist". Archived from the original on 2010-02-03. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
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