One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 @50
The Apollo 11 Moon landing on July 20, 1969, marked a watershed moment in human history for science, engineering, and culture, not only in the United States, but around the globe. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of that landmark series of events, the Cultural Center at Hofstra University, in partnership with the Cradle of Aviation Museum, invites paper proposals for an interdisciplinary conference, One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 @50, to be held on the Hofstra campus April 2-3, 2019. The conference will consider both the scientific and technological dimensions of the landing on the moon and its cultural and political repercussions, both locally on Long Island and around the world. #HofApollo11
Keynote Academic Speaker:
Dr. Matthew Hersch, assistant professor of the history of science at Harvard University, is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Inventing the American Astronaut, as well as numerous articles about Cold War-era aerospace, computer, and military technologies and their relationship to labor and popular culture.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Kimberly Gilmore is Senior Historian and Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at HISTORY/A+E Networks.
Mike Stiller is Vice President, Development and Programming for the History Channel.
Tuesday, April 2, 6:30 p.m.
SIGNATURE SPEAKER: Dr. Mae Jemison
Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater, John Cranford Adams Playhouse
South Campus
Dr. Mae C. Jemison leads 100 Year Starship (100YSS), a bold, far-reaching nonprofit initiative to ensure the capabilities for human travel beyond our solar system within the next 100 years. Jemison is building a multi-faceted global community to foster the cultural, scientific, social and technical commitment, support, and financial framework to accomplish the 100YSS vision-An Inclusive, Audacious Journey (that) Transforms Life Here on Earth and Beyond.
Jemison, the first woman of color to go into space, serving six years as a NASA astronaut. Aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour's, STS-47 Spacelab -J mission in September 1992, she performed experiments in material science, life sciences, and human adaptation to weightlessness.
Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m.
SIGNATURE SPEAKER: Dr. Douglas Brinkley
Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus
Dr. Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. As the fiftieth anniversary of the first lunar landing approaches, the award winning historian and perennial New York Times bestselling author takes a fresh look at the space program, President John F. Kennedy's inspiring challenge, and America's race to the moon. Drawing on new primary source material and major interviews with many of the surviving figures who were key to America's success, Brinkley brings this fascinating history to life as never before. American Moonshot is a portrait of the brilliant men and women who made this giant leap possible, the technology that enabled us to propel men beyond earth's orbit to the moon and return them safely, and the geopolitical tensions that spurred Kennedy to commit himself fully to this audacious dream. Brinkley's ensemble cast of New Frontier characters include rocketeer Wernher von Braun, astronaut John Glenn and space booster Lyndon Johnson. A vivid and enthralling chronicle of one of the most thrilling, hopeful, and turbulent eras in the nation's history, American Moonshot is an homage to scientific ingenuity, human curiosity, and the boundless American spirit.
CONFERENCE CO-DIRECTORS
J Bret Bennington, PhD
Professor of Geology and Chair
Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability
Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Hofstra University
Rodney F. Hill, PhD
Associate Professor of Film
Department of Radio, Television, Film
The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication
Hofstra University
For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/apollo11.