George Fitzgerald Smoot III, a 1962 graduate of Upper Arlington High School, visited his alma mater on Thursday, April 12 and addressed an auditorium filled with science, physics and mathematics students. Smoot was honored with the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics this past October.

Smoot and his colleague, John Mather, were able to capture images of the infant universe, revealing small irregularities in the temperature of the radiation emitted by the Big Bang. Scientists had been hunting for these ripples for decades because without them, today's galaxies and other celestial bodies couldn't have resulted from a colossal explosion, and the Big Bang theory would be off base.

Smoot, 61, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made the move to Berkeley Lab in 1974 to work with Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez. Alvarez encouraged him to think big, and soon Smoot was on the trail of the radiation ripples and submitted a proposal to NASA to launch a satellite to find and map the fluctuations.

Fifteen years later, he and John Mather, 60, who earned his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1974, oversaw the launch of the Cosmic Background Explorer, known as COBE. In April 1992, Smoot announced they had succeeded in finding the density wrinkles. If those wrinkles hadn't existed, the Big Bang theory would have been wrong.

After showing a video presentation of his work, including footage from the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, Dr. Smoot answered questions from students regarding his theories, studies, and his decision to follow a career path in physics.

Dr. Smoot emphasized the importance of our ever-changing world and the effects that rapidly developing technology will have on today's students' futures, in terms of competition and knowledge. He explained that he experienced many setbacks and challenges during the course of his studies and his work, and that it was his love of the subject matter that made the journey enjoyable. He encouraged the students to apply themselves, have confidence that they can accomplish even the highest goals, and to always be skeptical - to question - because this is how new discoveries are made.

Dr. Smoot referred the audience to a web site, universeadventure.org, that explains his findings and presents his theories in a visually appealing, understandable manner.

Read the article about George Smoot in April 12's edition of The Columbus Dispatch, and look for an article featuring him in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

See also the April 18 Upper Arlington News article regarding Dr. Smoot's visit with students at UAHS.

Upper Arlington High School is proud of the outstanding accomplishments of our alumnus, Dr. George Smoot.

The Gold and Black put the finishing touches on a 20-1 season and climbed to 14th nationally in the Laxpower rankings with the win, their 10th state title in 16 years under Head Coach Ted Wolford who will be inducted into the Ohio Lacrosse Hall of Fame Friday June 8th at the Fawcett Center at Ohio State.

See the Men's Lacrosse Web site, read the full story, and see photos!

Taken by the Nazis from her home and family in Poland, Gerda gave a powerful talk to our students with her message that there is always hope and to never give up. You literally could have heard a pin drop in each auditorium as the children sat completely immersed in her compelling story.

If you have not read any of Mrs. Klein's books, we strongly recommend them. She also has been the subject of an Oscar winning HBO documentary, One Survivor Remembers. This is available at many libraries. Her book titles are: All But My Life, A Boring Evening at Home, and The Hours After. Many thanks to the great Golden Bears of '58 and '59 for their generosity!

Photo: UAEF President Christian Laver, Gerda Weissman Klein, and UAEF Board Member Brad Frick.

Brian Strause, who attended UA Schools through 7th grade and who would have been in the Class of 1986, was in Upper Arlington on April 2 to sign his newly published novel, Maybe a Miracle.

Brian Strause's debut novel Maybe a Miracle is set in a fictional suburb of Columbus, which turns out to be suspiciously similar to Upper Arlington. In addition to reading from the novel which People magazine praised with four (out of four) stars and called "laugh out loud funny, provocative and unique," Strause discussed what's real, what's not and that strange place between fact and fiction where the truth sometimes resides.

For alums who still live in Arlington, a great place to pick up the book is the Liberty Bookstore at the Lane Avenue shopping center. It's a great independent store owned by the Gaylords who used to own Little Professor. You can order it here from Barnes and Noble.com or you can order it here from Amazon.com. Also, you can read the first two chapters at Brian's Web site.

UAHS Class of 1969's George Frecker and his company, Waste Cost Recovery, were featured in the January 19, 2007 edition of Business First.

George launched his business three years ago as a result of his longtime interest in the environment, and his desire to help companies streamline their trash removal and create a comprehensive recycling program. His clients include businesses in Columbus' Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District downtown, our own Upper Arlington Schools, and Hamilton Local Schools.

The Business First article highlights George's accomplishments with his business as they pertain to cost effectiveness and environmental awareness.

Greg Miller, a 1968 graduate of Whetstone High School and Upper Arlington resident, and a longtime friend of the Freckers did the photography featured in the article. Greg Miller Photography is located at 15 East Second Avenue, Columbus OH 43201; 299-6848. Read entire article

Upper Arlington High School graduate Brian Klemesrud, Class of 1997, has started a film production company in Chicago entitled GALATRAX PICTURES.

The production company has produced four short pictures, all directed by Klemesrud. Galatrax Pictures is currently in the fundraising stage of the pre-production process for their next short film, Static. To be shot on 35 mm film, Galatrax Pictures' goal is to submity this short to the major film festivals here and abroad in order to achieve studio backing for the production of their feature film, The Murder of Evelyn K.

The Death of Noir, Klemesrud's first short film, was accepted into Indiefest, a Chicago-based film festival and it enjoyed a run at Chicago's historical Biograph movie thatre. Shot on a budget of $2,500 and completed in just over three years, Noir is a 23-minute short that can be viewed at ifilm.com, where it has garnered 4 and 5 star (out of 5 stars) reviews. Congratulations to our Bearalum Brian Klemesrud, pictured above in red shirt. Featured in the film is 1998 UAHS graduate Kristi Slager, pictured at right.