December 16, 2007

Purdue graduates told to learn from history of Space Age

Córdova spoke to 2,758 graduates and their families and friends during two ceremonies held at Elliott Hall of Music. This was the university's 203rd commencement.

Córdova told graduates that people worldwide are celebrating the 50th anniversary of space exploration. The Space Age has benefited from hundreds of Purdue graduates who not only worked as astronauts, but also researched, designed and built the rockets, capsules and satellites of the past 50 years, she said.

"There is a tendency to think of the Space Age only in terms of science, engineering and technology, but it is much more than that," Córdova said. "The Space Age has profoundly affected music, art and entertainment. It has changed education, business and politics. It has added to health, medicine and our understanding of the fragile environment in which we live. It has improved food safety."

The history of space travel also holds important lessons about the level of commitment needed to overcome obstacles, she said.

Just after the first U.S. human space flight in 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke before a joint session of Congress about the challenge the country would face in landing on the moon.

"In a very real sense," President Kennedy said, "it will not be one man going to the moon … it will be an entire nation, for all of us must work to put him there."

Córdova said that what Kennedy was telling America that leadership and success come with a tremendous responsibility, and that the country must be willing to work hard and pay the price.

"There are many great problems to be faced today and in the years ahead," she said. "I am confident today's generation of graduates can successfully address them."

She said Purdue's classrooms have helped graduates develop an important skill necessary for success.

"Neil Armstrong describes this in a story he tells about his first day in a Purdue aerodynamics class," Córdova said. "The professor gave an assignment involving Bernoulli's Law, a law stating the relationship between the velocity, density and pressure of a fluid. The assignment was not just to read the chapter on Bernoulli's Law, but also to critique it."

It was at that point Armstrong realized that he was learning more than facts and information – he was learning how to think, she said.

"Your education is not yet finished," Córdova said. "It will last your entire lifetime. What your Purdue education has taught you is how to think, and that will make all the difference in your lives and in the future of our nation and world as you apply the full potentials of the Space Age to the needs and challenges of our time."

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: France A. Córdova, president@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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