University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

Page 27 text:

Faculty Research Lecturers Professors Edward H. Schafer, Oriental languages; and Steven Smale, Mathematics, were selected by the Academic Senate as Faculty Research Lecturers for 1983-84, often considered the highest honor the Berkeley faculty confers upon its own members. Schafer, who began teaching at Cal in 1947, is a world-renowned philologist and cultural historian of medieval China. Through his valuable research, this scholar has sought to join East and West in the realms of technology, natural science, and material culture in general. In later work, Schafer went on to explore the role of language in Medieval Chinese culture and thought. Not long after Smale joined the Berkeley faculty in 1964, he received several prestigious awards, such as the Veblen Prize for Geometry (1965) and the Fields Medal (1966), which many in the mathematics com- munity have named the Nobel Prize of mathematic. He has attained considerable attention and recognition for his laudable work in topology, a branch of mathematics ... concerned with changing geometric shapes while holding certain conditions constant; and more recently, his research on the simplex algorithm, a method used to solve linear program- ming problems often encountered by large businesses. Steven Smale Faculty 25

Page 29 text:

Professor Nobel Prize With the publication of his Theory of Value in 1959, the road was paved for Professor Gerard Debreu ' s future achievements and accompanying recognition in the field of economics. As a blueprint for furthe r development of economic theory, Debreu ' s Theory of Value outlined the concepts of classical equillibrium in economics. Having recently received the 1983 Nobel Prize in economic science, Debreu goes down in Cal history as one of the fifteen faculty members who have ed this high honor. Debreu becomes the first faculty member, however, to win the Prize in economics. Born in France, the 62 year-old Debreu studied in the United States as a Rockefeller Fellow from 1948 to 1950, and a research associate at the University of Chicago from 1950 to 1955. Debreu received his doctorate at the Universite de Paris in 1956. In his own country, his outstanding achievements won him great recognition when, in 1976, he received the Chevalier de la Legion d ' Houneur. Prior to his becoming a member of the Berkeley faculty in 1962, Debreu was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and a visiting professor of economics at Yale. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Debreu served as associate editor of the International Economic Review. Although he has been heralded as a great scholar and novator within his discipline, Debreu is much more than a Nobel Prize Winner. Among students, colleagues and ministrators alike, he is not merely known as an intelligent man of great accomplishment; he also has a reputation for being a warm and enthusiastic instructor and co-worker. It is with great respect and admiration that Cal applauds the success of its newest Nobel Laureate. Faculty 27