It's All About Oxygen

 


2:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 14, 2004

American Association fot the Advancment of Science Annual Meeting

Washington State Convention & Trade Center

Seattle, Washington


Oxygen DVD


Synopsis:
This symposium contains a mix of approaches to understanding fascinating new research on oxygen, as well as the circumstances of oxygen's original discovery. Further, the symposium explores and celebrates the common bonds of creativity, passion, and expression between science, the arts, and the humanities. Mary Jo Nye will examine the history of the discovery of oxygen and Shannon Stahl will discuss the search to control the potentially explosive--yet environmentally clean--oxidation reactions of molecular oxygen.. Richard Lerner will discuss the latest discoveries of ozone as an anti-inflammatory agent generated by the body itself. Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, authors of the play "Oxygen", de-mystify science and make it more accessible to the general public by depicting scientists in fiction or plays as fully developed characters with the same motivations and the same faults as everyone else. DVD excerpts from the University of Wisconsin Theatre production of "Oxygen" will be shown.

2:30 pm--Introduction
Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Prof. of Chemistry and Director of the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison

2:40 -- What?s In a Name? Historical Discoveries of Oxygen
Mary Jo Nye, Prof. of History, and History of Science Graduate Program Chair,
Oregon State University, Corvallis

3:05 -- Discussion

3:10 -- Selective Chemical Oxidation with Oxygen: Toward an Environmentally Friendly Chemical Industry
Shannon Stahl, Prof. of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison

3:35 -- Discussion

3:40 -- Antibody Catalysis, Ozone, and Atherosclerosis
Richard A. Lerner, M.D., President of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla

4:20 -- Discussion

4:30 -- More About MME. Lavoisier than M. Lavoisier
Roald Hoffmann, Prof. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University,

4:55 -- Discussion

5:00 -- Oxygen in the Theatre
Carl Djerassi, Emeritus Prof. of Chemistry, Stanford University

5:25 -- Discussion

5:30 -- Adjourn