Public Lectures at Princeton

Anna Deavere Smith

susan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:41:10 +0000

Topic to be announced.
February 25, 2010. Spencer Trask Lecture.

John Waters

susan — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:51:45 +0000

This Filthy World
March 25, 2010. Cosponsored by the Lewis Center for the Arts/Performance Central and the Spencer Trask Lecture Fund.

Simon Winchester

susan — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:20:35 +0000

Topic to be announced.
February 11, 2010. Spencer Trask Lecture

Marcelo Magnasco

susan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:47:35 +0000

Is an Eclipse Described in Homer’s Odyssey?
November 30, 2009. Cosponsored by Department of Molecular Biology and the Louis Clark Vanuxem Fund. (NOTE: McCosh Hall 10)
Plutarch and Heraclitus believed that a certain passage in the 20th book of The Odyssey (“Theoclymenus’s prophecy”) was a poetic description of a total solar eclipse. In the late 1920s Schoch and Neugebauer computed that the solar eclipse of 16 April 1178 B.C.E. was total over the Ionian Islands and was the only suitable eclipse in more than a century to agree with classical estimates of the decade-earlier sack of Troy around 1192–1184 B.C.E. However, much skepticism remains about whether the verses refer to this, or any, eclipse. Marcelo Magnasco and his colleagues analyzed other astronomical references in the epic, without assuming the existence of an eclipse, and searched for dates matching the astronomical phenomena they probably describe. Using three astronomical references in the epic—Boötes and the Pleiades, Venus, and the New Moon—and supplementing them with a conjectural identification of Hermes’s trip to Ogygia with the motion of planet Mercury, they searched all possible dates in the span 1250–1115 B.C., trying to match these phenomena in the order and manner that the text describes. In that period, a single date closely matches the phenomena: 16 April 1178 B.C.E. They speculate that the astronomical references in the epic, plus the disputed eclipse reference, may refer to that specific eclipse.

Andrew Sullivan

susan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:31:11 +0000

Topic to be announced.
February 18, 2010. Stafford Little Lecture

Antonio Busalacchi

susan — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:30:36 +0000

The Impact of Climate Change on Global Viticulture
April 28, 2009. Cosponsored by Louis Clark Vanuxem Lecture Fund, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Princeton Environmental Institute (Note: 5:30 p.m. in McCosh Hall 10)

Steven Johnson

susan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:51:57 +0000

The Myth of the Echo Chamber: Politics in the Age of the Participatory Web
September 21, 2009. Stafford Little Lecture

Steven Berlin Johnson is the author of The Ghost Map (2006), a chronicle of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London, and The Invention of Air (2008), the story of British scientist Joseph Priestly and his influence on the America’s Founding Fathers. In this lecture Johnson will argue against those who maintain that the internet has fragmented society by enabling us to filter out voices with viewpoints different from our own. On the contrary, he claims that the internet promotes a diversity far more comprehensive than older forms of media.

Alfred Brendel

susan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:46:12 +0000

Character in Music
November 9, 2009. Cosponsored by the Spencer Trask Fund, Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of Music, Princeton University Concerts, and the Department of German (NOTE: 8:00 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall. Free ticket required. See below for details.)

The lecture sets out to show that in musical performances the perception of character and atmosphere is no less important than that of form and structure. The belief that the structure of a work automatically reveals its character is a fallacy. The notion of character appears in 18th-century treatises on interpretation as well as in writing on aesthetics where it is first discussed at the time when Beethoven’s sonatas begin to appear. Czerny’s comments on Beethoven’s piano works are full of references to character. The pianist’s task becomes related to that of a character actor identifying with different roles, with an ever-widening awareness of the staggering emotional and psychological variety great music has to offer. Mr. Brendel will play a number of musical examples during the lecture.

Alfred Brendel’s place among the greatest musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries is assured. Renowned for his masterly interpretations of the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Liszt, he is one of the indisputable authorities in musical life today and one of the very few living pianists whose name alone guarantees a sell-out anywhere in the world he chooses to play.

TICKETS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. There will be a wait line at the event for any open seating.

Javier Marias

susan — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:03:33 +0000

A Reading from Marias’s Works Followed by a Conversation with Professors Angel G. Loureiro and Michael Wood
December 1, 2009. Cosponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Spencer Trask Fund. (NOTE: McCormick 101 at 4:30 p.m.)

Romano Prodi

susan — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:58:05 +0000

The Role of Europe in a Multilateral World
November 19, 2009. Walter E. Edge Lecture.
In his lecture, “The Role of Europe in a Multilateral World,” Romano Prodi will examine the benefits and challenges presented by the European Union’s expansion. Although the enlargement of the union has had significant impact on the democratic transition in eastern Europe and has extended European markets, there is no unanimity on issues of security, energy, and foreign affairs. Prodi maintains that if the EU aims to play a key role on the world’s political stage, it will need to develop an integrated European foreign policy.

Trained in law and economics, Dr. Prodi graduated from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan) and the London School of Economics. He taught at the University of Bologna before entering politics. A founder of the center-left coalition, the Olive Tree, he served as prime minister of Italy from 1996 to 1998. He then served as president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, from 1999 to 2004. During that period he presided over the eastward expansion of the European Union and the adoption of the euro as a common currency. He returned to Italian politics, once more serving as prime minister, from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is currently professor-at-large at the Watson Institute for international studies at Brown University.