2009 Helen Quinn

Helen Quinn is Professor of Physics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center where she chairs the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics. She graduated from Stanford in 1963 and also received her Ph.D. at Stanford in 1967. Dr. Quinn is an internationally recognized theoretical physicist who holds both the Dirac Medal (from Italy) and the Klein Medal (from Sweden) for her contributions to the field. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Science, and the American Philosophical Society. She served as the president of the American Physical Society in 2004. She is an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia.

In addition to her scholarship in physics, Dr. Quinn has had a long term involvement in science education and in the continuing education of science teachers. She was an active contributor to the California State Science Standards development process. She is Chair of the National Academy’s Board on Science Education (BOSE) (effective June 1, 2009). She served as a member of the BOSE study which resulted in the report, “Taking Science to School” and chaired another BOSE committee that reviewed NASA Science Education programs. In addition she co-chairs Stanford’s K-12 Initiative with Professor Kenji Hakuta from the School of Education.