The Gala Will Celebrate Movies and Moments in Science Fiction that Inspired Great Innovations
Science fiction and the role it played in inspiring some of the world's most groundbreaking innovations will be the theme of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce's second annual Innovation Gala (iGALA 2.0) on Oct. 26, 2015 at The Palace in Somerset.
Honored guests will include Apollo 11 astronaut Dr. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin; physicist and television personality Dr. Michio Kaku; and former Bell Labs theoretical physicist Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate at MIT.
The Cocktail reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and the dinner begins at 7 p.m. The event is open to members of the media.
Science Imitates Art
In the weeks leading up to the Gala, the N.J. Chamber will reveal the Top 15 inventions that were borne out of science fiction movies, TV and books. Mark Twain, for example, uncannily described the Internet in a story he wrote in 1898. Jules Verne descried an underwater vehicle that inspired the submarine in 1870 when he wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. And Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk used a communicator on the 1960's show that inspired the cell phone.
Many of the innovations inspired by science fiction were invented in New Jersey.
That's why we will celebrate.
Last year, the N.J. Chamber's Innovation Gala attracted more than 600 guests, including Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno; executives from the state's top businesses and most prestigious R&D firms; a special delegation from the Isle of Jersey (our state's namesake); and many of New Jersey's greatest innovators and members of their families.
Honored Guests
At this year's Gala, the N.J. Chamber of Commerce will present a Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award to Apollo 11 astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin, who, on July 20, 1969, became the second man to walk on the moon.
Dr. Jackson will receive the N.J. Chamber's inaugural Alice H. Parker's Women Leaders in Innovation Award. In addition to her service at Bell Laboratories, Dr. Jackson was a professor of physics at Rutgers for five years, and served as Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Clinton administration.
The keynote presenter will be Dr. Michio Kaku, visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton who appears frequently on television and radio to promote and discuss science and physics.
For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
