The Denison University physics and astronomy department will host John Dickel, a Shapley Visiting Lecturer under the sponsorship of the American Astronomical Society, for a presentation on "The Death of Stars" at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday (April 27) in Room 114 of Olin Science Building.

Dickel is a professor of astronomy at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. He studies supernova blasts and their interaction with the interstellar medium in the neighborhood using radio, optical, infrared and x-ray telescopes. In addition to work done in Illinois, Dickel has conducted research in Australia, the Netherlands and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

After earning his bachelor of science degree from Yale in 1960, Dickel earned his doctorate from University of Michigan in 1964.

The American Astronomical Society, together with the Dudley Observatory, supports the visits of eminent astronomers to institutions throughout the United States. The Society expects 40 to 50 institutions to benefit from the visiting lecturer program this year.

The program is named after Harlow Shapley (1885 - 1972), who served as president of the American Astronomical Society from 1943 to 1946. Shapley played a central role in understanding Earth?s location and place in the universe. As a staff member at the Mount Wilson Observatory, he began a study of stars in globular clusters. Previous to his work, astronomers had generally assumed that our Sun had a central position in our Milky Way system.

"Shapley did for the Milky Way what Copernicus had done for the solar system," says Steven Doty, assistant professor at Denison, who is coordinating Dickel's visit. In addition to his public lecture, Dickel will meet with students over lunch and address an astronomy seminar on Monday.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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