Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sweeten

His Coat and Tails


Trying on his coat and tails for the Nobel Prize ceremony

A few weeks ago my lovely husband, Ivan, got a phone call from the Nobel Laureate, Saul Perlmutter. Except when Ivan knew him 15 years ago, Dr. Perlmutter was not a Nobel Laureate, he was just Saul... a professor that Ivan worked with at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (aka, the Berkeley Labs).  As an undergraduate with some wicked Fortran programming skills, Ivan worked with Saul, writing software that would eventually be built upon to assist in discovering the speed in which our universe is expanding. Ivan worked on this project for many years, as a lone engineer amongst academics until the private sector called with more room for advancement and financial rewards.

A wonderful thing happened this past October. The project that Ivan worked on, The Supernovae Cosmology Project, won the Nobel Prize in Physics for Dr. Perlmutter... and thus the phone call to Ivan, with an invitation to attend the ceremony in Stockholm to recognize and thank him for his contribution.

This incredible, loving husband, father, brother, son and friend will be crossing the ocean today to be recognized for his work in discovering the expansiveness of the universe. We will miss him as he will be away from us for a week, but there are not enough words to describe our pride in him.

We love you, Ivan. You are amazing, you are cherished and we are proud to be yours.

Congratulations, My Love.
Sweeten