Madurai, September 23, 2008: Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced that Dr. Eric A Cornell the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics, is the featured speaker for the Honeywell-Nobel Laureate Lecture Series to be held at the Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai (TCE). Dr. Cornell will deliver a lecture on “Bose Einstein Condensation” on September 23rd and a colloquium entitled “Is Warm Glass Stickier than Cold Glass” at the same venue on September 24th.  Dr. Cornell shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics with Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl E. Wieman for the achievement of Bose- Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates. This is the 5th event of the lecture series that started in 2007 in Belgaum, Karnataka.

The Honeywell-Nobel Laureate Lecture Series is the centerpiece of a global education initiative designed to connect students across the globe with Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry and Physics to inspire and motivate the development of scientists of the future. The India initiative was launched in December, 2007 with the visit of Dr. Sheldon L. Glashow, the 1979 Nobel Laureate in Physics, to the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum, Karnataka. This was followed by the visit of Dr. George F. Smoot, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics in Pune in March, 2008. The third and fourth edition witnessed visits from Dr. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, the 2007 Nobel Laureate in Physics and Prof. Douglas Osheroff, the 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physics in Hyderabad and Pune respectively during 2008 -09. 

“We are committed to providing students with the best opportunities and materials to support their pursuit of math and science education. The Honeywell-Nobel Laureate Lecture Series is a great platform for students to interact with the world’s best scientific minds on the latest developments in research and development in this field,” said Dr. Krishna Mikkilineni, Vice President & Managing Director of Honeywell Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd (HTS).  “We have a long standing engagement with TCE and are pleased to extend our association by offering their students this terrific opportunity.” 

For over 7 years, HTS and TCE have been collaborating together on several initiatives including an innovative scholarship program, annual technology meetings and guest lectures by Honeywell Technology specialists. There are currently around 50 TCE alumni working at Honeywell. 

“We are delighted to have been chosen by Honeywell to host Dr. Eric Cornell and the Honeywell-Nobel Laureate Lecture Series,” said Mr Kurumattu T. Kannan, President, Thiagarajar College & Chairman and Correspondent of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai. “TCE is affiliated to Anna University is one among the several educational and philanthropic institutions founded by Philanthropist and Industrialist Late. Shri. Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar. This Lecture Series is yet another unique initiative to engage students and faculty in discussions and deliberations with one of the best minds in the world of science which will, no doubt, have a profound impact on the students.” 

Dr. Eric A. Cornell is a Physicist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  He is also Professor Adjoint in the Physics Department of the University of Colorado (CU.), and Fellow of JILA, a joint institute of NIST and CU. The son of a professor of engineering, Allin Cornell, and a high school English teacher, Elizabeth Greenberg, Eric Cornell was born 19 December 1961, in Palo Alto, California.  He received a B.S. in Physics with honor and with distinction from Stanford University in 1985, winning the Firestone Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for his senior thesis experiment on surface-adsorbed helium at cryogenic temperatures.  

Dr. Cornell’s work on Bose-Einstein Condensation has been recognized by a number of awards, including the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award from NIST, the Zeiss Award in Optics, the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the Fritz London Award for low temperature physics, the Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society, the 1997 King Faisal International Prize for Science, the Lorentz Medal in 1998, in 1999 the R. W. Wood Prize and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, and in 2000 was elected as a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.  He shares the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle.

The Honeywell - Nobel Initiative is part of Honeywell's Science Education Initiative, an effort designed to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists beginning with students and teachers at middle schools and extending to targeted universities around the world. Honeywell's science and math education programs, FMA Live!, Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy, and Honeywell Scholars @ Presidential Classroom, have already reached more than 100,000 students and teachers in 26 countries and 41 U.S. states. 

For additional information, please visit www.honeywellscience.com