Doctorate of Letters

Prof. Robert B. Laughlin
Department of Physics
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Prof. Laughlin received this honorary degree from the University of Maryland after delivering the graduation address at its overseas program at Yongsan Base in Seoul, Korea. Joe Arden, the University of Maryland's Vice President of Overseas Operations, conferred the degree. This particular honor has international relations overtones, and has been won previously by such luminaries as Edwin O. Reischauer and Mike Mansfield, both of whom served as Ambassador to Japan (among other things). Prof. Laughlin had the privilege at this event of meeting Ambassador Christopher Hill and Vietnamese poet Mông-Lan, whose book Song of the Cicadas he particularly liked.