Eighty years ago, the California Institute of Technology began the Watson Lecture Series after it was conceived by the late Caltech physicist Earnest Watson as a way to explain science to the local community. This year's series will kick off on Wednesday, October 9, 2002, with "Countering Terrorism, the Role of Science and Technology," a talk by Jack Beauchamp, the Mary and Charles Ferkel Professor of Chemistry at Caltech.
For four years Beauchamp chaired the National Research Council Committee on Commercial Aircraft Security, and in 1996 he served as a commissioner on the White House Commission for Aviation Safety and Security, chaired by then-Vice President Al Gore.
The broad spectrum of accessible targets and the range of methods that a terrorist might employ in an attack create new challenges for science and technology. In response to terrorist attacks involving commercial aviation, Congress mandated the development and deployment of new methods to screen passengers and baggage, mainly for weapons and explosives.
In his talk, Dr. Beauchamp will discuss the history of these developments, and appraise the new technologies that may play an important role in the difficult task of preventing and mitigating terrorist attacks.
The lecture will take place at 8 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium, which is located near Michigan Avenue south of Del Mar Boulevard, on Caltech's campus in Pasadena. Seating is available on a free, no-ticket-required, first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Parking is available in the lots south of Del Mar Boulevard between Wilson and Chester Avenues, and in the parking structures at 341 and 405 South Wilson and 370 South Holliston Avenue.