This spring’s edition of Central Methodist University’s Thomas A. Perry Faith and Science Lecture Series will be held on Wednesday, March 18, and will feature award-winning professor Paula Findlen.
Findlen’s talk, “Women of Faith and Knowledge: How to Be a Scientist after Galileo,” will be the latest iteration of the lecture series honoring the memory of Dr. Thomas Perry, longtime chair of the English department at then-Central Methodist College. The event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Spalding Room on the fourth floor of the Inman Student and Community Center. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
Findlen is a Professor of Early Modern Europe and History of Science in the Stanford University Department of History. She is Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History and is Director of the Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. She co-founded the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies and has been Chair of the History Department at Stanford University. Her research and teaching focuses on the early history of science and medicine, including the relationship between knowledge and faith in Galileo's world and the history of early modern women pursuing science.
A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Findlen has been the recipient of fellowships from the ACLS, NEH, American Philosophical Society, Delmas Foundation, Stanford Humanities Center, Getty Center, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and Guggenheim. She has also been awarded the Nelson Prize from the Renaissance Society of America (1990), the Derek Price Prize for the best article in the history of science (1995) and the Margaret Rossiter Prize for the history of women in science (2004).
A widely published author, Findlen is the 2016 recipient of the Premio Galileo for her contributions to understanding Italian culture. Her essays have appeared regularly in The Nation.
Perry, the namesake of the lecture series, spent 20 year as chairman of the English department at Central. He was also the chair of the Division of Literature and Languages and chair of the honors program. He sponsored Scribblers and Scrawlers, a club for aspiring creative writers, hosting and entertaining them monthly at his home. Perry is the late father of Tad Perry, chairman of the Board of Trustees at CMU.