U. Of C. A Hothouse For Nobel Winners

October 17, 1990|By Carol Jouzaitis.

If the University of Chicago`s No. 1 sport is winning Nobel Prizes, then Tuesday was a championship day for the elite academic institution in Hyde Park.

The university racked up another one Tuesday when the Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded a Nobel prize in economics to Merton Miller, a professor in the Graduate School of Business.

When Miller flies to Stockholm to collect his prize, he will be the latest in a long string of students and faculty associated with the university to receive the honor. His award brings to eight the number of Nobel laureates on the U. of C.`s faculty in economics, physics, literature and medicine.

Three of those prizes, including Miller`s, were in economics, a record that enhances the considerable prestige and influence of the university`s

``Chicago School`` of economics.

Thirteen of 30 Nobel winners in economics were students or did research or taught at the U. of C.

Since the Nobel Prize was created in 1901, 60 U. of C. alumni, faculty and former teachers have become Nobel laureates, according to the university. As one of nation`s major research universities, the U. of C.`s reputation has been built on cutting-edge ideas. Its researchers have split the atom, helped mold landmark court decisions and laid the groundwork for Reaganomics. The university`s scholarly atmosphere is but one factor accounting for its ability to nurture prize winners, according to some.

``Not only the university, but the city of Chicago has a greater tolerance for eccentricity, for people outside the mainstream,`` said Milton Friedman, a U. of C. professor emeritus and Nobel laureate now doing research at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.

``New York is an accepted avante garde, exceedingly orthodox in its left- wing views and opinions. Chicago is a new town free of the influence of both coasts,`` said Friedman.

Yet, for all its accomplishments, the U. of C. is often said to be more famous outside the city that it calls home. Equally frustrating to faculty and staff is the institution`s image as a pie-in-the-sky home for theoretical thinkers rather than shirt-sleeve doers. Such misconceptions made Tuesday`s prize that much sweeter.

Why does the U. of C., which kicks off its centennial celebration in October 1991, turn out so many Nobel winners?

One reason is the volume of research and publications produced by its faculty. Its prolific scholarly record attracts other highly motivated faculty and students, said D. Gale Johnson, an economics professor and former provost. ``There is an aura about the place that induces other highly motivated people to come here,`` Johnson said.

``Besides, what else is there to do in Chicago in the winter but go to the lab and work?``