A phone call this morning reminded me that we are less than a month away from our Astronomical Evening with Br. Guy Consolmagno S.J. on September 6.
The caller told me that a group from her work, although not the company itself, was interested in attending. If they brought their spouses, that could mean as many as ten paid guests. Officially, the deadline to RSVP is August 23 but with the growing interest, I highly recommended that the group confirm attendance by Monday, August 14.
That recommendation applies to anyone interested. Dinner spaces in particular are beginning to fill. There is more room at the reception.
Cost to attend the dinner and reception is $200 per person while the reception alone is $100 per person. To be clear, there will be two programs so that anyone attending the dinner and reception will enjoy two separate and distinct presentations by Br. Guy.
Br. Guy Consolmagno S.J., the Vatican Astronomer, obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1974 and Master of Science in 1975 in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1978. From 1978-80 he was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the Harvard College Observatory, and from 1980-1983 continued as postdoc and lecturer at MIT. n 1983 he left MIT to join the US Peace Corps, where he served for two years in Kenya teaching physics and astronomy. Upon his return to the US in 1985 he became an assistant professor of physics at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he taught until his entry into the Jesuit order in 1989. He took vows as a Jesuit brother in 1991, and studied philosophy and theology at Loyola University Chicago, and physics at the University of Chicago before his assignment to the Vatican Observatory in 1993.
In spring 2000 he held the MacLean Chair for Visiting Jesuit Scholars at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, in 2006-2007 the Loyola Chair at Fordham University, New York, and in fall 2009 the Lanigan Chair in Science, Medicine, and Ethics at LeMoyne College, Syracuse. He has also been a visiting scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center and a visiting professor at Loyola College, Baltimore, and Loyola University, Chicago.
Br. Guy has served on the governing boards of the Meteoritical Society; the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Division III, Planetary Systems Science (secretary, 2000 - present) and Commission 16, Moons and Planets (president, 2003-2006); and the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (chair, 2006-2007). Since 2008 he has been a member of the IAU Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature and the Mars Nomenclature Task Group; in 2015 he became chair of the Mars TG.
He has written and co-authored numerous books and is an annual presenter at the Jesuit Retreat Center.
Br. Guy will discuss God's Mechanics: The Religious Life of Techies for the Reception Program, and The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican for the Dinner Program.
Presenting this Astronomical Evening with Br. Guy Consolmagno S.J. are
Galileo Sponsors Jim & Lia Whitehead Stephanie & Paul Gatto
We are grateful to our other supporters as well:
Copernicus Sponsors Mary and E. Jeffrey Banchero Boscia Legal
Issac Newton The Law Offices of Thomas Schneck
Edmond Halley Sponsors Fr. Tony Mancuso Shabbat Havurim Palal Kim & Brian Manca.
Sponsorship packages are still available at all levels:
$5,000 Galileo $1,200 Copernicus $750 Issac Newton $350 Edmond Halley
Register for tickets or sponsorships online at https://tinyurl.com/jrcspeakerevent
Br. Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J. An Astronomical Evening to benefit The Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos and the Vatican Observatory Foundation
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Reception Program: 5 PM God's Mechanics: The Religious Life of Techies
Dinner Program: 7:30 PM The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican
For more information, contact Dyane Hendricks at 650.917.4049 or dhendricks@jrclosaltos.org