Harvard Astronomer To Present Herbert H. Reynolds Lecture March 19

by LoAna Lopez

Renowned astronomer Owen Gingerich will speak on "The Copernican Revolution Revisited" at 3:30 p.m., Monday, March 19, in Kayser Auditorium at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. Gingerich, senior astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and professor of astronomy and of the history of science at Harvard University, is this year's recipient of the Herbert H. Reynolds Lectureship in the History and Philosophy of Science.
During the past three decades, Gingerich has become a leading authority on Nicholas Copernicus, the 16th-century cosmologist who proposed the heliocentric (solar) system, and the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler. His research interests range from the recomputation of an ancient Babylonian mathematical table to the interpretation of stellar spectra. Along with more than 400 technical and educational articles and reviews, Gingerich has written on astronomy in several encyclopedias and journals. In 1984, he won the Harvard-Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa prize for excellence in teaching.
The Herbert H. Reynolds Lectureship in the History and Philosophy of Science was established in 1998 by a gift to the Baylor department of philosophy from the Herbert H. and Joy C. Reynolds Endowment Fund for University Excellence. It brings to the Baylor campus an internationally recognized scholar in the sciences or in the philosophy or history of science. The recipient of the lectureship serves in residence at Baylor for two weeks, presents a public lecture, participates as a co-professor in a philosophy of science seminar and is available for classroom participation in appropriate courses.
For more information, contact the Baylor philosophy department at 710-3368.