Physicist receives new Farley Professorship

Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., the Wolf Prize-winning physicist, received a new title last week: James J. Farley Professor of Natural Philosophy. The James J. Farley Professorship in Natural Philosophy pays tribute to a longtime member of the Chapman family who served the campus as vice president of development until becoming the executive director of the Waltmar Foundation. James Farley never completely retired, and before his death he was honored at Chapman with both the C.C. Chapman Award and the James J. Farley Professorship in Economics.

The title Professor of Natural Philosophy has a prestigious history. It was held by such luminaries in science as Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin and Stephen Hawking and Paul Davies, Chapman University’s commencement speaker this past May.

Later, Dr. Aharonov presented his talk on “What Can We Learn About Ourselves from Modern Physics” at “The Second Annual Lectio Magistralis.” (See short video clip below.) On stage with him was Dr. Davies, the British physicist who earned international acclaim for his insights into the origins and evolution of the universe.