A list of all the recipients of the Frank G. and Jean M. Chesley Lectureship.
1986-1987 The First Annual
Professor David N. Schramm November 4-6, 1986
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
University of Chicago
1987-1988 The Second Annual
Bert W. O’Malley, M.D. March 7 and 8, 1988
Department of Cell Biology
Baylor University
1988-1989 The Third Annual
Professor John L. Comaroff May 15 – 17, 1989
Department of Anthropology and Sociology
University of Chicago
1989-1990 The Fourth Annual
Professor Noam Chomsky February 22 and 23, 1990
Department of Linguistics
Mass. Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
1990-1991 The Fifth Annual
Peter B. Dervan April 8 – 12, 1991
Bren Professor of Chemistry
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
1991-1992 The Sixth Annual
Ronald L. Graham April 6 – 9, 1992
Adjunct Director of Information Science at ATT Bell Labs and University Professor
Rutgers University
1992-1993 The Seventh Annual
Clyde Wahrhaftig October 1992
1993-1994 The Eighth Annual
N. David Mermin May 9 – 11, 1994
Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics
Cornell University
1994-1995 The Ninth Annual
Margaret B. Davis May 18 and 19, 1995
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
University of Minnesota
1995-1996 The Tenth Annual
Stephen Jay Gould March 28 and 29, 1996
Paleontologist and evolutionary theorist
Harvard University
1996-1997 The Eleventh Annual
Dr. Richard N. Zare April 30 – May 2, 1997
Physical and Analytical Chemistry
Stanford University
1997-1998 The Twelfth Annual
Dr. David Maybury-Lewis January 26 – 28, 1998
Anthropology
Harvard University
1998-1999 The Thirteenth Annual
Dr. Lawrence M. Krauss September 30 – October 2, 1998
Physics and Astronomy
Case Western Reserve University
1999-2000 The Fourteenth Annual
Dr. Susan Solomon April 26 – 28, 2000
Atmospheric Chemistry
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2000-2001 The Fifteenth Annual
Dr. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. November 2 – 3, 2000
Computer Science
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2001-2002 The Sixteenth Annual
Dr. Simon A. Levin (ENTS) May 7 – 8, 2002
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Princeton University
Dr. Mary-Claire King May 9 – 10, 2002
American Cancer Society Research Professor
University of Washington Medicine and Genetics
2002-2003 The Seventeenth Annual
Dr. Benedict R. O’Gorman Anderson October 8-9, 2002
Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor of International Studies
Cornell University
2003-2004 The Eighteenth Annual
Dr. Richard Alley January 7-11, 2004
Professor of Geoscience
Pennsylvania State University
2004-2005 The Nineteenth Annual
John H. Conway (Mathematics) October 25-26, 2004
John von Neumann Chair of Mathematics
Princeton University
2005-2006 The Twentieth Annual
Robert Kirshner (Astronomy) May 14-17, 2006
Clowes Professor of Science
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University
2006-2007 The Twenty-first Annual
Harry B. Gray (Chemistry) May 3-4, 2007
Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry
California Institute of Technology
2007-2008 The Twenty-second Annual
Ronald L. Rivest (Computer Science) May 26-30, 2008
Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Engineering & Computer Science
Mass. Institute of Technology
2008-2009 The Twenty-third Annual
Kip Thorne (Physics) October 8-10, 2008
The Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics
California Institute of Technology
2009-2010 The Twenty-fourth Annual
Sean B. Carroll (Biology) February 21-23, 2010
Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Wisconsin
2010-2011 The Twenty-fifth Annual
Marshall Sahlins (Anthropology) April 26, 2011
Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
The University of Chicago
2011-2012 The Twenty-sixth Annual
Thure Cerling (Geology) April 3, 2012
Professor of Geology & Geophysics
University of Utah
2012-2013 The Twenty-seventh Annual
Stephen W. Pacala (ENTS) January 16, 2013
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Princeton University
2013-2014 The Twenty-eighth Annual
James Propp (Mathematics) November 11, 2013
Professor of Mathematics
University of Massachusetts-Lowell
2014-2015 The Twenty-ninth Annual
Cornelia Lang (Astronomy) October 9-10, 2014
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
University of Iowa
2015-2016 None
Computer Science deferred until 2016-2017.
2016-2017 The Thirtieth Annual
Radia J. Perlman (Computer Science) April 3-7, 2017
Fellow at Dell EMC and has taught at MIT, Harvard, University of Washington
Gerard “Gerry” Wright (Chemistry) April 27-28, 2017
Professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences
McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
2017-2018 The Thirty-first Annual
William Phillips (Physics) April 18, 2018
Nobel Laureate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
University of Maryland
2018-2019 None
Biology deferred until 2019-2020.
2019-2020 The Thirty-second Annual
Dorothy Roberts (Anthropology) October 1-2, 2019
George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, and Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights
Penn Law
Biology – cancelled due to COVID-19
2020-2021 The Thirty-third Annual
Robin Wall Kimmerer (ENTS) October 9, 2020
Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology
SUNY
2021-2022 The Thirty-fourth Annual
Astronomy
Gabriela González January 17-18, 2022
Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Louisiana State University
Chemistry
Roger Wiens April 21-22, 2022
Principal Investigator of SuperCam
Los Almos National Laboratory
Roger Wiens April 21-22, 2022
2022-2023 The Thirty-fifth Annual
Geology
Susan L. Brantley April 19-20, 2023
Evan Pugh University Professor and Barnes Professor of Geosciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Mathematics
Lillian Pierce April 27-28, 2023
Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Professor of Mathematics
Duke University
2023-2024 The Thirty-sixth Annual
Biology
Patricia Brennan January 11-12, 2024
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Mount Holyoke College
Computer Science
Lorrie Cranor May 1-2, 2024
Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute and FORE Systems University Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University
2024-2025 The Thirty-seventh Annual
Physics
David Kawall April 28, 2025
Professor of Physics
University of Massachusets, Amherst
Neuroscience
Margaret McCarthy April 6, 2025
Director, University of Maryland – Medicine Institute of Neuroscience Discovery and James and Carolyn Frenkil Dean’s Professor
Univeristy of Maryland School of Medicine