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Welcome to the online press kit for Anita Laughlin!

Family, Focus and Physics

Inside the Nobel Prize with Anita Laughlin,

 author of Reindeer with King Gustaf

 

Anita Laughlin tells what it's like to be married to a Nobel laureate — the joys and trials that go into winning the world's most prestigious award, the triumph of traveling to Sweden to accept it.

 

Anita is author of Reindeer with King Gustaf, the first book by a spouse of a Nobel Prize winner that gives an insider's view of this awe-inspiring experience.

 

As the world recognizes the 2009 Nobel winners, including President Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Anita gives us a warm, funny and human account of the Nobel experience.

 

Anita is the wife of Stanford University Physics Professor Robert B. Laughlin. In 1998 he won the Nobel physics prize with two other physicists for describing how electrons behave when exposed to extreme cold and magnetic fields.

 

"He picked a subject that he knew was impossibly difficult to solve, on purpose. And then he spent about a two-week period sitting and doing nothing but focusing on that problem," she says.

 

While Dr. Laughlin's work shed light on the structure of the universe, his wife drew on her work as a second-grade teacher to understand the concentration her husband needed to achieve his monumental breakthrough.

 

"As a teacher, I'm always looking at children in terms of what kind of focusing issues they have," she says. "Had I not had training working with special needs kids initially, I would still be trying to figure out what Bob does and why he needs to have these periods of just complete immersion in what it is he's thinking about."

 

In Reindeer with King Gustaf, Anita tells how she and her two sons supported her husband in his work, and shared in the glory of his accomplishments. With warm humor and heart, she recounts the enchanting experience of traveling to Stockholm to accept the award. And she takes us as close as most of us will ever go to this magical and majestic moment.

 

Married for 31 years, Anita can help other couples with dual careers to understand how to love and support one another and find fulfillment in family and work. Says Anita: "you need to be a counterbalance and have a professional life of your own that is totally separate where you feel totally supported and totally successful in what you're doing."

 

For more information, visit Anita Laughlin's public Web site at http://www.anitalaughlin.net and the official Nobel Prize sites at http://nobelprize.org/ and http://nobelpeaceprize.org/.

 

Download Anita Laughlin's One Pager.

Media Contact is Michelle Tennant: Michelle@PublicityResults.com, 828.749.3200