This course is part of the 1920s Project and will be presented by multiple speakers over 11 weeks, June 12 to August 21. The speakers are all well versed in their fields and will present one or more lectures in physics and astronomy, as well as various new insights in medicine. The first two lectures will be by Prof. William Wootters on the move from classical Newtonian physics to the quantum breakthrough. Prof. Kevin Flaherty will present on astronomy in the 1920s and Peter Bluhm will speak about relativity before and after 1920. Presentations in medicine will include a lecture on antibiotics and vaccines (John Schreiber), cardiology in 1920 and the emergence of modern healthcare systems, (Jeff Leppo), surgery in 1920, (Dan Morrison), pathology in 1920, (Christopher Otis), psychiatry in 1920, (Ben Liptzin) and the final two lectures on vitamins and minerals and diabetes with the discovery of insulin (Shirin Nash).

Bill Wootters is a retired professor of physics at Williams College, with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. Most of his research has been in quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics. His previous OLLI courses include “The Speed of Light" and “Gravity."

Dr. Jeff Leppo received his medical degree in 1973 from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. His academic qualifications also include fellowships in cardiology and nuclear medicine at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, and at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He came to Berkshire Medical Center in 2004 from posts at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care in Worcester, where he was an attending cardiologist, Clinical Director of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and interim Chair of the Department of Radiology.  Dr. Leppo was division chief of cardiology (retired 2021) at Berkshire Medical Center. 

Dr. Dan Morrison is a general surgeon with a clinical focus on complex GI surgery and abdominal wall reconstruction. He has been in practice for 22 years and has been Chief of Surgery at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, MA since 2016. He and his family reside in West Suffield, CT.

Ben Liptzin, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the Tufts University School of Medicine.  For 25 years he was Chair of Psychiatry at Baystate Health in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Prior to that he was Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA and Director of the Geriatric Education Center at Harvard Medical School.  He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters.  He now splits his time between the Berkshires and New York City.

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