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As part of the Blanco Library’s “Visions of the Universe” Exhibit honoring the International Year of Astronomy, Dr. David Lambert, Director of the McDonald Observatory, will give a free address, open to the public, on October 29, at 7:00pm at the BISD Learning Center Auditorium.

Dr. Lambert holds the Isabel McCutcheon Harte Centennial Chair in Astronomy at The University of Texas in Austin.

He obtained a B. A. in physics in 1960 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in solar physics in 1965 from the University of Oxford.

According to the McDonald Observatory website http://mcdonald observatory.org/news/releases/2009), “In more than 40 years of research, he has published more than 460 research articles and received numerous awards, including the American Astronomical Society’s highest honor, the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 2007.

His current research involves precise analyses of the chemical composition of stars, both to determine how they make chemical elements and to better understand the chemical evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.”

The International Year of Astronomy celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of an astronomical telescope to study the heavens in 1609.

The Blanco Library is one of only 40 libraries nationwide to host the “Visions of the Universe” Exhibit, in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, the American Library Association Public Programs Office, Chicago, IL, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, with funding by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Another distinguished astronomer, Dr. Karl Gebhardt of The University of Texas at Austin, spoke to the Blanco Woman’s Club on October 14. His topic was “Dark Energy: The Greatest Mystery in the Universe.”