Dr. Paul Greengard, a 1948 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hamilton College and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, will deliver the keynote address, titled, "A Life in Science: Selected Memories," at Hamilton College's convocation on Sunday, Aug. 26, at 4 p.m. in Wellin Hall. Greengard will also be awarded an honorary degree from Hamilton at the convocation.
Greengard, director of the neuroscience laboratory at The Rockefeller University in New York, where he is the Vincent Astor Professor, and two colleagues received the award for their insights into the way information is communicated within cells. By uncovering the fundamental rules governing neuronal signaling and elucidating the many specific molecular devices by which that is achieved, Greengard has revolutionized the way in which neuroscientists investigate brain function.
Following his Hamilton graduation, Greengard received a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University, before doing postgraduate work in England. He was professor of pharmacology at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1983 when The Rockefeller University appointed him to head its then new laboratory of molecular and cellular neuroscience. By that time, Greengard's discoveries had already been widely recognized and hailed as providing a conceptual framework for understanding how the nervous system functions at the molecular level.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Greengard won the Academy's gold medal in recognition of "extraordinary contributions to progress in the fields of neuroscience." In 1995 he returned to Hamilton to present the annual Plant Lecture and to receive The Alumni Achievement Medal.
Hamilton's convocation ceremony, which is open to the public, will also include an academic procession and the awarding of many student prizes and scholarships. Classes at Hamilton begin on Monday, Aug. 27. Incoming members of the class of 2005 arrive for new student orientation on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
