Noted Physicist Shares Research With Television Audience

BOSTON

Noted physicist and educator Dr. Sylvester James Gates Jr. will share his groundbreaking research on string theory with a television audience this fall.

Gates will join host Brian Greene, author of the best-selling book The Elegant Universe, for a three-hour miniseries on NOVA, PBS's top-rated science documentary series.

Borrowing its title from Greene's book, "The Elegant Universe" will air Tuesdays, Oct. 28 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time, and Nov. 4 beginning at 8 p.m. The first episode is titled "Einstein's Dream"; the second, "String's the Thing"; and the final episode, "Welcome to the 11th Dimension."

Gates, one of the few African American theoretical physicists in the world, is a leading expert in the fields of superstring theory, supersymmetry and supergravity. In 1983, he authored, along with three others, the book Superspace or 1001 Lessons in Supersymmetry, which almost two decades later still remains the standard in the field (see Black Issues, Sept. 13, 2001).

Gates is the John S. Toll Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland-College Park and the first African American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major research institution in the United States.