# 4541-44 - 2011 First-Class Forever Stamp - American Scientists
U.S. #4541-44
2011 44¢ American Scientists
Issue Date: June 16, 2011
City: St. Paul, MN
Quantity: 30,000,000
Printed By: Banknote Corporation of America, Sennett Security Products
Printing Method: Offset
Color: multicolored
Marie Curie, the first female Nobel Prize winner, said, “I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.” Her observation easily applies to the four scientists honored by the U.S. Postal Service.
Melvin Calvin, Asa Gray, Maria Goeppert Mayer, and Severo Ochoa are all featured on the 2011 American Scientists stamps. Three of them, like Curie, won the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. The fourth, Gray, lived in the 19th century, before the Nobel was established, but also enjoyed international renown for his work in botany. His books are still used today.
With tremendous dedication, these scientists opened doors for others to follow. Their persistence unlocked secrets of the workings of the world: from Calvin’s understanding of plants and energy, to Goeppert Mayer’s investigation of atomic particles. Gray’s manuals detailing plants are still relevant more than 160 years later, and Ochoa’s research into the building blocks of life marked a critical advance.
The stamps feature calculations and images relevant to the work that made each scientist famous. The researchers honored on these stamps left a lasting legacy in the quest for knowledge.
American Scientists Series
For several years, the USPS had received requests for stamps honoring various scientists. In 2005, they combined those ideas to create the American Scientists Series.
The first stamps were issued on May 5, 2005, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where Josiah Willard Gibbs had worked as a teacher. The First Day Ceremony included a speech from John Marburger, the scientific advisor to the president as well as the president of Yale University. Relatives of the scientists honored on the stamps were also present.
After World War II, John von Neumann worked to develop large scale, high-speed electronic computers with stored programs. His design of the IAS computer – the von Neumann Architecture – became the model for most of its successors. Richard Feynman received the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics. He invented the Feynman diagrams which depict arrows and squiggles to represent particle activity.
Barbara McClintock found that color changes in successive generations of maize were turned on or off by genetic “switches.” Moreover, these switches could move from one part of a chromosome to another. Her discovery was crucial to later genetic research. In the age of steam, Josiah Gibbs formulated the laws of thermodynamics – the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. His rules had applications to chemistry, manufacturing, and engineering.
Gerti Cori was the first female to earn a Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine in 1947. Working with her husband, Cori discovered how carbohydrates are metabolized in the body. The Cori Crater on the Moon was named for her. Linus Pauling is considered by most to be the father of molecular biology. He earned two Nobel Prizes, one for chemistry in 1954 and one for Peace in 1962. In 1973, Pauling co-founded the Linus Pauling Institute.
The stamps honored Melvin Calvin, Asa Gray, Maria Goeppert Mayer, and Severo Ochoa. Three of them won the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. The fourth, Gray, lived in the 19th century, before the Nobel was established, but he enjoyed international renown for his work in botany. His books are still used today.
May the Fourth Be With You!
Click here for more Star Wars stamps.
U.S. #4541-44
2011 44¢ American Scientists
Issue Date: June 16, 2011
City: St. Paul, MN
Quantity: 30,000,000
Printed By: Banknote Corporation of America, Sennett Security Products
Printing Method: Offset
Color: multicolored
Marie Curie, the first female Nobel Prize winner, said, “I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.” Her observation easily applies to the four scientists honored by the U.S. Postal Service.
Melvin Calvin, Asa Gray, Maria Goeppert Mayer, and Severo Ochoa are all featured on the 2011 American Scientists stamps. Three of them, like Curie, won the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. The fourth, Gray, lived in the 19th century, before the Nobel was established, but also enjoyed international renown for his work in botany. His books are still used today.
With tremendous dedication, these scientists opened doors for others to follow. Their persistence unlocked secrets of the workings of the world: from Calvin’s understanding of plants and energy, to Goeppert Mayer’s investigation of atomic particles. Gray’s manuals detailing plants are still relevant more than 160 years later, and Ochoa’s research into the building blocks of life marked a critical advance.
The stamps feature calculations and images relevant to the work that made each scientist famous. The researchers honored on these stamps left a lasting legacy in the quest for knowledge.
American Scientists Series
For several years, the USPS had received requests for stamps honoring various scientists. In 2005, they combined those ideas to create the American Scientists Series.
The first stamps were issued on May 5, 2005, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where Josiah Willard Gibbs had worked as a teacher. The First Day Ceremony included a speech from John Marburger, the scientific advisor to the president as well as the president of Yale University. Relatives of the scientists honored on the stamps were also present.
After World War II, John von Neumann worked to develop large scale, high-speed electronic computers with stored programs. His design of the IAS computer – the von Neumann Architecture – became the model for most of its successors. Richard Feynman received the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics. He invented the Feynman diagrams which depict arrows and squiggles to represent particle activity.
Barbara McClintock found that color changes in successive generations of maize were turned on or off by genetic “switches.” Moreover, these switches could move from one part of a chromosome to another. Her discovery was crucial to later genetic research. In the age of steam, Josiah Gibbs formulated the laws of thermodynamics – the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. His rules had applications to chemistry, manufacturing, and engineering.
Gerti Cori was the first female to earn a Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine in 1947. Working with her husband, Cori discovered how carbohydrates are metabolized in the body. The Cori Crater on the Moon was named for her. Linus Pauling is considered by most to be the father of molecular biology. He earned two Nobel Prizes, one for chemistry in 1954 and one for Peace in 1962. In 1973, Pauling co-founded the Linus Pauling Institute.
The stamps honored Melvin Calvin, Asa Gray, Maria Goeppert Mayer, and Severo Ochoa. Three of them won the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. The fourth, Gray, lived in the 19th century, before the Nobel was established, but he enjoyed international renown for his work in botany. His books are still used today.
May the Fourth Be With You!
Click here for more Star Wars stamps.