Abstract
Mildred S. Dresselhaus is not one to be easily starstruck. Last November, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology emerita professor received the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian award in the U.S.—from President Barack Obama. The event brought the physicist shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow 2014 medalists, including musician Stevie Wonder, television news icon Tom Brokaw, and Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep. But being in close quarters with such high-profile celebrities and politicians didn’t faze Dresselhaus, who points out that she’s made numerous visits to the White House during the past four Administrations. And why should it faze her? Streep may have won three Oscars, but Dresselhaus has plenty awards of her own, including the 1990 National Medal of Science, the 2008 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize from the American Physical Society, and the 2012 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. That’s not to say Dresselhaus is immune to celebrity worship. Her eyes ...
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