Credit: John T. Consoli

Sylvester James “Jim” Gates, Jr., is a theoretical physicist who is most known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory. He is the Brown Theoretical Physics Center Director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, Affiliate Professor of Mathematics, and Faculty Fellow, Watson Institute for International Studies & Public Affairs at Brown University. In 2013, he was awarded the National Medal of Science, the highest award in the United States given to scientists. He is former president of the National Society of Black Physicists, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom. Vice President of the American Physical Society, Professor Gates regularly gives lectures for general audiences and makes frequent appearances in documentaries about science.

Credit: Allen Jackson

Cathie Pelletier is the critically acclaimed author of twelve novels, including The Funeral Makers, The Weight of Winter, and The One-Way Bridge. Several have been translated into numerous languages, and two have been made into films. She lives in Allagash, Maine, on the banks of the St. John River, in the house where she was born.