Golden Scholars

BREAKING: #NobelPrize winner @EricBetzig & biophysicist Na Ji to join the UC Berkeley faculty https://t.co/JGcKigI3Fl pic.twitter.com/BgmLD11Ehs

— UC Berkeley (@UCBerkeley) September 27, 2016

The Nobel Laureate parking spots on campus are going to get a little more crowded with physicist Eric Betzig—who won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry—joining the UC Berkeley faculty. Betzig won the award for his work in "super-resolution fluorescence microscopy" to image the innerworkings of cells on the molecular level, which has applications in the study of disease.

Now that we've moved into the meat of college football season, we can forget all about those meaningless preseason predictions that we used to fill the emptiness that is football-free life. Well, if you miss useless predictions and can't get your Miss Cleo fix, then here's a prediction that might interest you.Thomson Reuters predicts the Nobel parking spots at UC Berkeley are going to get a little more crowded with Professor Jennifer Doudna winning one for her gene-editing technology, CRISPR-Cas9. Personally, I'm a little skeptical that Doudna wins this year. Thomson Reuters brags about accurately predicting 37 winners since 2002, but not always in the correct year and those numbers may be inflated if they're counting multiple scientists winning for the same development. I do think Doudna/CRISPR will win the Nobel one day, but I think the Nobel Committee usually waits a little longer to recognize research with the acclaimed prize.

Shanghai Ranking Consultancy released their annual Academic Ranking of World Universities today, placing UC Berkeley as the 4th-best university in the world!

That moment of pride when you're on a tour of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm and your Swedish tour guide asks, "Is anyone from Berkeley, California?" YES! And then he proceeds to talk about parking spots on campus reserved for Nobel Laureates. @ucberkeleyofficial #BerkeleyPOV #gobears

A photo posted by Steven (@stevennordberg) on Jul 27, 2015 at 5:32am PDT

Great anecdote on Instagram about the Nobel Museum in Sweden giving UC Berkeley a little shout out for churning out so many Nobel Laureates--and giving them prime parking.

Actually, the best two places to major in business if you want ROI is UC Berkeley. Go Bears!

Read all about Dr. Doudna's early life, her revolutionary genome-editing technology, and the legal and ethical battles she's fighting as one of the field's pioneers.

Congrats to Alexa Vaughn and Gregory Winter--alums of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism--for winning Pulitzer Prizes!

Cal alumni like Rebecca Lynn are trying to make it easier for UC Berkeley grads to become the number-one school for entrepreneurship. Which school is standing in our way? Stanfurd, of course...

Professor Jennifer Doudna continues to accrue accolades as her gene-editing technology has made her one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.

CNN Money declared UC Berkeley as their fourth-best public college in terms of return on investment (i.e., tuition). Despite a pretty hefty tuition, they cite the school's research prowess, pipeline for Silicon Valley tech careers, and reputation as some of UC Berkeley's perks.

75 years ago (on February 29th, but close enough?), the Nobel Prize for Physics was presented to Ernest O. Lawrence for inventing Berkeley's famed cyclotron. (Yes, the very same Lawrence who's the namesake of the Livermore and Berkeley National Labs, lawrencium, and the Lawrence Hall of Science.) This feat was notable for being the first scientific Nobel awarded to a public institution and the first of 22 Nobel prizes won by faculty members of UC Berkeley. (For the record, the first Nobel awarded to anyone affiliated with UC Berkeley was alumnus Harold Urey in Chemistry, who beat Lawrence by five years.)

MT @NobelPrize: Happy 70th to Nobelist George Smoot! #NobelPrize for recording faint echoes of birth of universe. pic.twitter.com/KdopuwzPbt

— Berkeley Lab (@BerkeleyLab) February 20, 2015

Happy 70th birthday to George Smoot, a Nobel laureate for his work with the Big Bang, a guest star on the Big Bang Theory, and honorary captain of the 2006 Cal-Oregon game!

Are some people genetically predisposed to stay happily married? @ucberkeley researchers may have found a major clue in our DNA. Based on two decades of research, the team found a link between relationship fulfillment and a variation of the serotonin transporter gene — referred to as the “short allele.” Something to ponder this Valentine’s Day? #love #marriage #genetics #valentineday #ucberkeley

A photo posted by University of California (@uofcalifornia) on Feb 13, 2015 at 10:07am PST

Happy Cal-entine's Day! A 20-year study by UC Berkeley researchers has found a correlation between "relationship fulfillment" and a variant in the gene for the serotonin transporter. How romantic!

The Oscars a.k.a. the Academy Awards are right around the corner, but before the big night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a smaller ceremony for the recipients of the Scientific and Technical Awards. This week, EECS professor James O'Brien won a Technical Achievement Award for his work in Finite Element Destruction Modeling, which is used to simulate motion of objects during destruction and has been used in huge movies like the Harry Potter Series and Guardians of the Galaxy. Congrats, Professor O'Brien, and go Bears!

'The best of Berkeley': @NobelPrize laureate & #laser inventor Charles Townes dies at 99 http://t.co/Q0cymHAh0l pic.twitter.com/TQGj5jvcDb

— UC Berkeley (@UCBerkeley) January 28, 2015

RIP. Go Bears.

It's finally here: Shake it Off - UC Berkeley! #shakeitoff #gobears #TaylorSwift @taylorswift13 http://t.co/4N5nefjnld

— Matt Ha (@MattHaaa) December 16, 2014

Pappy Waldorf, meet Taylor Swift.

Ever resourceful @Cal students set-up a slip 'n slide in Memorial Glade during #hellastorm #GoBears HT @berkeleyside http://t.co/yWfngxbOCA

— Sean Rouse (@seanyodarouse) December 12, 2014

This is an appropriate response to rain.

UC Berkeley law students stage die-in. Students of color layed down while white students held hands & watched. pic.twitter.com/n9T2ktzMfT

— Juan Carlos Guerrero (@JuanCarlosABC7) December 10, 2014

We encourage all our Cal students to stay safe but voice their opinions! Go Bears!

According to Times Higher Education world university rankings, UC Berkeley is top 10 in a lot http://t.co/4Mwh7WZbqP pic.twitter.com/ppboGTWBR8

— Avinash Kunnath (@avinashkunnath) December 10, 2014

Still the top public university in the world!

For a full recap of last night's #berkeleyprotests, check out the @dailycal article by @melissalwen and @jessielau93. http://t.co/xdXM5zwrZd

— Megan Messerly (@meganmesserly) December 7, 2014

Protest peacefully and don't get hurt out there.