Fiat Lux
The University of California, Berkeley once again illuminated the world of knowledge as two faculty members received Nobel Prizes and another earned a MacArthur Fellowship. Their work in physics, chemistry, and molecular biology reflects the spirit of public research that fuels national progress. Public universities educate most of America’s scientists and sustain the broadest research portfolios with modest means. Amid rising costs and public doubt, their mission endures as a democratic trust: that knowledge should serve all, not the few. Renewed investment in research and faculty will determine whether that light endures through the century.
Carol M. Highsmith, Sather Gate at the University of California, Berkeley, 2012. Public domain, Library of Congress, Carol M. Highsmith Archive.