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Science writer, Dava Sobel, will be the featured speaker at the annual dinner of the University of Delaware Library Associates at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 29, in Arsht Hall on the University of Delaware’s campus in Wilmington. The award-winning author of “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter,” she will present “Reflections of a Science Writer: Galileo and John ‘Longitude’ Harrison and their Discoveries for the Ages.”

“Longitude” became a national and international bestseller immediately upon publication and has been translated into more than 20 foreign languages. The book won the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, “Le Prix Faubert du Coton” in France and “Il Primo del Mare Circeo” in Italy and was named “Book of the Year” in England. “Longitude” also was produced for the PBS program “Lost at Sea—The Search for Longitude” in the fall of 1998 and, in 2002, as an A&E Network four-hour television mini-series.

“Gallieo’s Daughter” is based on 124 surviving letters to Galileo from his eldest child, which Sobel translated and used to clarify his work. “Galileo’s Daughter” received the 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, a 2000 Christopher Award and was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in biography. In October 2002, PBS also produced a television documentary of “Galileo’s Daughter.” A new book, “Letters to Father” contains the full text of the correspondence.

A 1964 graduate of Bronx High School of Science, Sobel also attended Antioch College and the City College of New York. She received her degree in theatre history, not in a science discipline from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She was a science writer for Cornell University and also was a reporter for The New York Times.

In her 30 years as a science journalist, she also has written for many magazines including The New Yorker, Audubon, Discover and Life. She has served as a contributing editor to Harvard Magazine and Omni and co-authored six books.

Sobel received the 2001 Individual Public Service Award from the National Service Board for “fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general public.” She received the Bradford Washburn Award from the Boston Museum of Science for her “outstanding contribution toward public understanding of science, appreciation of its fascination and the vital roles it plays in our lives.”

The Library Associates’ dinner begins with a cash bar at 6 p.m. and is followed by dinner and the program at 7 p.m. Cost is $70 per person for members of the Library Associates, $90 per person for guests (which includes a first year Library Associates membership) and $700 for a corporate table of eight persons. The event is open to the public with a dinner reservation. A printed invitation may be obtained by sending an e-mail message to [UDLA@udel.edu] or by (302) 831-2231.

Sobel has expressed her willingness to entertain questions following her presentation and to sign copies of her books. The University Bookstore will have her books available for purchase that evening.

Contact: Amy Pasternack, (302) 831-8749
April 10, 2003