September 8, 2016 Dava Sobel to Discuss “Mapping the Elusive Southern Sky,” Oct. 6

Dava Sobel, the best-selling author and historian of science, will discuss early efforts to chart the stars, for the Library of Congress’ annual Jay I. Kislak Lecture in the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas, on Oct. 6.

Sobel will present “Mapping the Elusive Southern Sky” at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Coolidge Auditorium on the ground level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public. Tickets are not needed.

The presentation will be the keynote speech for a two-day conference hosted by the Library’s Geography and Map Division. “Facts or Fictions: Debating the Mysteries of Early Modern Science and Cartography—A Celebration of the 500th Anniversary of Waldseemüller’s 1516 Carta Marina” will be held on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 in the Coolidge Auditorium. The conference is free and open to the public.

A former New York Times science reporter, Sobel is the author of “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter” and the forthcoming “The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars.” Her new book will be released in December 2016.

Sobel’s talk will cover the centuries-long efforts to fill in the blanks on the earliest printed, and sparsely populated, star chart by Albrecht Dürer, dated 1515. According to Sobel, these efforts, which included the establishment of observatories in South America and South Africa, led not only to detailed charts of the southern stars, but also the means to measure distances across space, enabling astronomers to appreciate the true scale of the universe. The Dürer chart, purchased by the Library of Congress in late 2015, is part of the collections of the Library’s Geography and Map Division.

The annual Jay I. Kislak Lecture is a component of the Kislak American Studies Program, established at the Library of Congress in 2004 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. Previous lecturers include Jared Diamond, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Michael Coe, Jonathan Spence, David Stuart, Charles C. Mann and Richard Hansen.

In addition to the lecture series, the Kislak gift includes an important collection of books, manuscripts, historical documents, maps and art of the Americas. A permanent rotating exhibition of materials from the Kislak Collection, “Exploring the Early Americas,” opened in December 2007. The Kislak gift also provides for fellowships to study its materials.

The Library of Congress has the largest and most comprehensive collection of maps and atlases in the world, some 5.4 million cartographic items that date from the 14th century to the present time. The cartographic collections cover every country and subject, in formats ranging from early manuscripts to the most up-to-date digital geospatial data and software. The collections include the works of some of the most important surveyors and mapmakers in America, such as George Washington, Meriwether Lewis, and Richard Edes Harrison, along with archives relating to the history of geography in the United States. For more information, visit loc.gov/rr/geogmap/.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.