AAA LECTURE SERIES AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

The Amateur Astronomers Association is proud to present an astronomy lecture series from October through May each year for our members and the public. Everyone is welcome to attend, admission is free to the lecture, and no reservations or tickets are required.

This lecture series is held at the Kaufmann Auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West between 77th and 81st Streets.  Lectures begin at 6:15 p.m. and run to 8:00 p.m. Generally, lectures take place on the first Friday of the month.  This year, the lectures in January and April have been moved because of holidays or observances. 

Each year one lecture is designated the John Marshall Memorial Lecture, to honor a former president of the Association.  This year's John Marshall Lecture will be given by Dr. Alan Guth on November 6. 

Chair:  David Kraft

AAA Lecture March 5:  "In the Footsteps of the Master: Discovering the Contributions of Galileo"
John Gianforte, Blue Sky Observatory, University of New Hampshire
 

          By night, John is an active Astronomer and Imager -- by day, he is an Electrical Engineer and a College Astronomy and Physics Instructor. His main astronomical research interests are: observing transits of extrasolar planets, cataclysmic variable stars, comets, and supernovae. He also enjoys lunar, solar, and planetary imaging as well as observing faint and distant galaxies from the Blue Sky Observatory and from the University of New Hampshire’s Observatory, both located in Durham, NH.  John teaches Astronomy and other related courses for The University System of New Hampshire’s Granite State College, and for The University of New Hampshire’s Physics Department. He also writes on astronomy on his web site: www.theskyguy.org. John also has “appeared” on New Hampshire Public Radio’s (NHPR) Exchange live, morning talk show as well as on New Hampshire Public Television’s (NHPTV) NH Outlook where he contributes to NH Skies.  John is the Co-founder of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England (ASNNE) which he helped form in 1983. You can find John at the University of New Hampshire Observatory for the twice-monthly public observing sessions held on the first and third Saturday nights each month. You can see some of John’s work on his web site (www.theskyguy.org) and the University of New Hampshire Observatory web site: http://physics.unh.edu/observatory.

          In August of 2008, John and his wife Doris made a trip to Italy to follow in the footsteps of Galileo. They visited many of the places where Galileo lived and taught to get an idea of what it was like back in the 17^th Century and how Galileo may have been influenced to make the contributions he did to astronomy and to science in general.