For Immediate Release

Contact: John M. Martino
Phone Number:  (215) 895-1186
Date: 04/30/02

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia Professor Receives Prestigious 2002 Guggenheim Fellowship Award

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation recently presented Dr. Paul Halpern, professor of physics at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP), with a prestigious 2002 Guggenheim Fellowship Award.  Dr. Halpern of Wynnewood, Pa. (19096), was among 184 artists, scholars and scientists nationally selected to receive a fellowship from more than 2,800 applicants for awards totaling $6,750,000.  Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.   Dr. Halpern will use the $36,000 fellowship award to examine the history of the notion of higher dimensions in science, as well as the impact of this idea upon popular culture.  His research, "The Concept of Dimensionality in Science," will cover the period from the mid-19th century, when the idea of the fourth dimension was first introduced, until the late 20th century, when scientists developed 10 and 11 dimensional models of the universe.  He will research libraries on the East Coast as well as planned visits to facilities in England and Germany.

Dr. Halpern has been a professor at USP for nearly 15 years.  He is the author of many widely acclaimed science books, which have received accolades from numerous publications.  He has appeared on several television and radio shows, including the PBS series "Future Quest" and the NPR show "Radio Times."  In 1996, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, where he studied evolutionary algorithms.

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