BEMIDJI, Minn. — Professor Alan Chapman of the University of Oxford, lead lecturer on Bemidji State University’s Eurospring Program, will be presenting his annual lecture to the Bemidji community on Monday, Sept. 22. His lecture, “Galileo: The Man, The Myth and The Discoverer” will be delivered at 3:00 p.m in room 100 of Hagg-Sauer Hall on the Bemidji State campus

This year 2008 marks the 400th anniversary of the earliest record of an actual functioning telescope, without which modern astronomy could not exist. Galileo became the first “celebrity scientist,” becoming the first person to make and publish key discoveries with the instrument. His ambition and love of controversy played significant roles in his famous 1633 trial in Rome for championing the Copernican model of the solar system with the sun, rather than the Earth, as its center.

From Wadham College of Oxford University in England, Chapman presents an annual fall program at Bemidji State while on campus to discuss Eurospring, Bemidji State’s oldest international study program which is offered during the spring semester.

Eurospring originated in the mid 1970s, and over the decades hundreds of Bemidji State students have taken advantage of the benefits that international study brings through the program.

Chapman has been with Eurospring from its inception, and his involvement has been one of its strongest components. His annual lecture is considered one of the highlights of the academic year at Bemidji State.

The main lecturer for Eurospring, he is the author of “Mary Somerville and the World of Science.” He has made two television series, “Gods in the Sky” and “Great Scientists,” and has been featured on several BBC radio discussions on history.

He has served as visiting professor in the history of science at Gresham College, a 400-year-old London institution of considerable academic prestige, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Central Lanchashire.

Chapman was invited by the Danish government and the Danish Crown to write on Danish scientific connections with China from 1600 to the present, and also was invited to lecture in Copenhagen in 2006 at the Nils Bohr Institute as part of the same project.

More information on the lecture and on Eurospring is available by contacting Bemidji State’s International Program Center at (218) 755-4096.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Sept. 22 — 3:00 p.m. — Bemidji State University hosts lecture by Dr. Alan Chapman, “Galileo: The Man, The Myth and The Discoverer” Location: Hagg-Sauer Hall 100. Admission: Free. Information: (218) 755-4096.