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Brief Autobiography: Bill Lauritzen
Harry Kroto and Bill Lauritzen (right) pose at a conference on carbon 60. (1994) Dr. Kroto, co-discoverer of carbon 60, won the Nobel Prize for his discovery two years later. Kroto invited Lauritzen to the conference to present some of his models of carbon-60 (in photo).
Martin Gardner and Bill Lauritzen (left) pose at Gardner's home in North Carolina. Gardner is the former mathematics editor of Scientific American and has written about 75 books, many of them having to do with mathematics and science. He read and praised several of Lauritzen's articles.
Mamikon and Lauritzen in front of the Project Mathematics office near Cal Tech. Mamokin developed a method of doing many standard calculus problems without the use of formulas or even knowledge of calculus. Mamikon was featured in the Cal Tech magazine, Engineering and Science, and recently won an award from the American Mathematical Society. Lauritzen and Mamikon are working on a project to get this information on a web site.
Bill Lauritzen and Bill Nye on July 3,
2005, at the Planetary Society event
covering the impact with comet Tempel 1.
A Brief Biography of Bill Lauritzen
William Lauritzen is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Academy in
Colorado Springs. His first two years at the Academy, besides the extensive
military and physical training, he studied algebra and trigonometry, analytic
geometry, calculus, engineering, law, astronomy, philosophy, ethics,
comparative religion, astrodynamics, electrical engineering, chemistry,
aeronautical engineering, psychology, anthropology, history, Russian, US
history, world history, military history, air power and 20th century warfare,
statistics, mechanics, biology, human physiology, political science, physics,
space flight, economics, and art.
His second two years at
the Academy he received a B.S. in psychology by studying general psychology,
leadership, physiological psychology, statistics, social psychology, abnormal
psychology, experimental psychology, personality, testing and measurements,
learning, systems of psychology, industrial psychology, perception, and
engineering psychology. He also studied philosophy, ethics, the great
religions, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of the
counter-culture. He graduated near the top 1% of his class and was named
"The Outstanding Graduate" in both psychology and philosophy.
The Air Force then sent him to an accelerated program to get a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology at Purdue. At the age of 22, he received a master's degree in Industrial Psychology from Purdue, specializing in Human Engineering Design. He was assigned to design and evaluate cockpits for jet aircraft, which he did for two years.
He was then discharged from the Air Force as a pacifist. However, like Einstein, he found pacifism to be impractical.
From 1980-1982 he independently studied organizations, job morale, and industrial productivity.
He then taught extensively in the inner city of Los Angeles, as a substitute teacher, while studying
independently studying education, mathematics, science, and
psychology.
He wrote a paper on the
Buckminsterfullerence molecule in 1994. This paper resulted in him being invited to a
conference where he met Harry Kroto and Richard Smalley, the two discoverers
of the molecule, and who two years later shared the Nobel Prize for this. (See
photo of Kroto and Lauritzen above.)
He has created several innovative
designs and insightful articles which combine cognitive science, mathematics,
geometry, geodesic domes, archeology, anthropology, geology, oceanography, education, ancient Egypt, economics, and
other subjects.
His designs include a new way of
presenting and teaching the English alphabet (still under development), a new number system (a base-12 color-coded number system with new
symbols), an educational word game (still under development), and Spacehenge.
He has been influenced in his
thought and designs by Socrates, Plato, Galileo, Darwin, Freud, Buckminster Fuller, Albert Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alfred Korzybski, and others.
In 2004, he taught mathematics at Otis Art College. From 2001 to 2005 he taught psychology part-time at Los Angeles City College. He currently teaches summers for the Center for Talented Youth of Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Los Angeles and New Mexico.
Swimming Accomplishments
2004 Open Water Swim, Playa del Rey, 1st Place in age group.
1991 Hapuna Roughwater Swim, Hawaii, 1st Place in age group.
1990 Featured on KCET, with Huell Howser; for inventing a new swimming stroke.
1988 Ranked by Swim Magazine in All-Time-Top-10 World Ranking, Two Events.
1973 NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship Award, Swimming.
1972 1973, Swim Team Captain US Air Force Academy.
1968 Illinois State Champion, 100 yard breaststroke.
1968 Ft. Lauderdale Holiday Training with Dr. James Counsilman, author Science of Swimming.
1967, 1968, 1969: High School All-American, Hinsdale High School.
Bill Lauritzen: Usability Engineer
USAF Academy
Purdue University
Outstanding Cadet in Psychology and Philosophy
Team Captain Award Harvard Book Award
Publications and Papers:
Honors and Lectures:
NEWSPAPER CLIPS BY BILL LAURITZEN
CHRONOLOGICAL PHOTO HISTORY OF THE AUTHOR
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