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Nobel physicist faces prison term

SILICON VALLEY: A Nobel Prize-winning physicist may face prison sentence for ploughing his speeding car into a van, killing one passenger and injuring seven others near Orcutt in central California. John Robert Schrieffer (74), who won the Nobel in 1972, was driving on a suspended Florida licence at the time of the collision last September 24, authorities said on Wednesday. At an emotional hearing this week in a Santa Maria courtroom, Mr. Schrieffer tearfully apologised to the victims in the fatal crash, reported the Santa Maria Times. Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge James Herman was unmoved, sending Mr. Schrieffer to a state diagnostic facility, where he will be evaluated for a possible prison term. Mr. Schrieffer, a Florida resident, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter on July 25. — PTI

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