Dava Sobel to Deliver 2017 Dibner Lecture

The Smithsonian Libraries will hold the 2017 Dibner Library Lecture Thursday, Dec. 14, at 5 p.m. at the S. Dillon Ripley Center Lecture Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

This year’s guest lecturer is author Dava Sobel, former New York Times science reporter and writer of prominent discourse on scientific topics. At the Smithsonian Libraries event, Sobel will speak on “The Glass Universe: A Unique Scientific Library.” For more event information, visit https://library.si.edu/event/dibner-library-lecture-glass-universe.  

Sobel is the author of Longitude (Walker 1995 and 2005, Penguin 1996), Galileo’s Daughter (Walker 1999 and 2011, Penguin 2000), The Planets (Viking 2005, Penguin 2006), A More Perfect Heaven (Walker/Bloomsbury, 2011 and 2012) and The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars (Penguin, 2017). She has also co-authored six books, including Is Anyone Out There? with astronomer Frank Drake.

Begun in 1992, the Dibner Library Lectures feature a distinguished scholar who has made significant contributions to his or her field of study. Previous lecturers include British historian Richard Holmes and Harvard University professor Joyce E. Chaplin. Since 2000, the Dibner Library Lecture has become available in published form. The lectures are also posted online. The lecture series and its publication are made possible by the support of The Dibner Fund.

The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, one of the Smithsonian Libraries’ 21 locations, opened in October 1976. The library’s core collection of 10,000 rare books and 1,600 manuscript groups came to the Smithsonian from the Burndy Library, founded by Bern Dibner in Norwalk, Conn., at the time of America’s bicentennial celebrations. The collection includes premier scientific texts spanning the 13th to the early 20th centuries and has grown to form one of the cornerstones of the Smithsonian Libraries’ collections. For almost 40 years, this library has provided vital primary sources to scholars, curators and members of the scientific community.

About the Smithsonian Libraries

The Smithsonian Libraries maintains a collection of more than 2 million volumes and serves as an educational resource for the Smithsonian Institution, the global research community and the public. The Libraries are located in Washington, D.C.; Edgewater, Md.; New York City; and the Republic of Panama. For more information, visit the Smithsonian Libraries website.