ESTABLISHED IN 2007

Chapman Lecture Series

The Chapman Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of Dr. Richard A. Chapman '54 and Barbara Madden Chapman '54. Hailing from Waxahachie, Texas, Dr. Chapman matriculated at Rice in 1950. An all-star tackle, Dr. Chapman was All-Southwest Conference twice, made several All-American teams and was a member of the Cotton Bowl All-Star team in the 1950s. Despite being a first-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions, Dr. Chapman decided to stay at Rice and pursue graduate degrees. After receiving a B.A. in physics in 1954, he began work under the tutelage of Professor Tom Bonner, a Rice physics professor for whom Bonner Nuclear Lab is named. Dr. Chapman earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in 1955 and 1957, respectively, writing his theses on neutron-producing reactions. After completing his degrees, Dr. Chapman worked for General Electric in its nuclear power reactor research and development department for two years and then joined Texas Instruments in 1959. During his career, Dr. Chapman authored 114 papers and was granted 42 U.S. patents. Dr. Chapman was the recipient of six Texas Instruments awards, three for patents on infrared sensing arrays and three for silicon integrated circuit technology. Originally from Houston, Mrs. Barbara Dell Chapman earned her B.A. in English in 1954. She taught school with the Houston area public schools for one year, and then was a full-time homemaker raising the couple's four children. Dr. and Mrs. Chapman are ardent supporters of their alma mater, Rice University.

Past Lectures

January 21, 2020 - "Skin-Inspired Organic Electronics"

  • Zhenan Bao, Stanford University

February 28, 2019 - "Atomic Qubits in Silicon"

  • Michelle Y. Simmons, University of New South Wales

April 9, 2018 - "Using Topology to Build a Better Qubit"

  • Lukas Novotny, University of Copenhagen

October 13, 2016 - "Controlling Light-Matter Interactions on the Nanometer Scale"

  • Charles M. Marcus, ETH Zurich

February 25, 2016 - "Table-top X-Ray Lasers: From Star Wars to Nanotechnology"

  • Margaret Murnane, UC Boulder
  • Host: Isabell Thomann

November 4, 2015- "Beyond Electronics: Abandoning Perfection for Quantum Technologies"

  • David Awschalom, University of Chicago

October 2, 2014 - "Nanotube Guitars and Graphene Machines: Pushing the Boundries with Carbon Nanomaterials"

  • Paul L. McEuen, Cornell University

March 25, 2013 - "The Nano-Gold Rush"

  • Jochen Feldmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU), Munich, Germany
  • Host: Kevin Kelly

March 7, 2012 - "The Science of invisability"

  • John Pendry, Imperial College London
  • Host: Naomi Halas

November 5, 2009 - "Wonder in Flat Carbon World: Graphene"

  • Philip Kim, Columbia University

April 6, 2009 - "Nanotechnology for Stretchable Electronics: From Electronic Eyeballs to Brain Monitors"

  • John A. Rogers, University of Illinois