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Monday, February 25, 2002

Jim Gates remembers exactly how he became interested in science. It started when he was only 8 and his father gave him a book about space travel. From this book, he says, "I learned that the stars in the sky were not just lights, but places to go. And suddenly, my universe got very much larger and I knew that science was the way to get to such places."

That book started Gates on a lifelong journey into science, mathematics and the very forefront of our knowledge of the universe. But it was a trip that was almost short-circuited. When he was in the sixth grade, his family settled in Florida, and Gates had to attend a segregated school. This was a new experience for him. Though he was an excellent student, he felt inadequate compared to the white students he knew. He felt certain he would not be accepted by any colleges and he decided not to apply.

His parents convinced him to set his goals higher. With their support, he applied to, and was accepted by, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gates received a bachelor's degree and a doctorate there and then did postgraduate work at Harvard College and at Cal Tech.

While earning his doctorate, Gates became aware of the highly mathematical, and very new, field of string theory. String theory attempts to join relativity and quantum mechanics to explain the fundamental structure of the universe. Gates' pioneering efforts in this area have made him a leading expert in this highly complex area of study. He continues that work at the University of Maryland.

Gates hopes it will not only help us better understand the nature of our world, but also lead to new and powerful technologies and, perhaps, set us on that road to the stars he thought about so many years ago.

-- By John G. Radzilowicz, director, Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium & Observatory