Author Sobel Chosen to Address 2002 Graduates

Author: Raam Wong

Dava Sobel, the award-winning writer and former New York Times science reporter, has been chosen by the Honorary Degree Selection Committee as the graduation speaker for the Middlebury College Class of 2002. Sobel's two most prominent pieces of work are her books "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter," which illustrate her ability to blend her appreciation for literature and the sciences. The remaining honorary degree candidates will be announced at a later date.

The Honorary Degree Selection Committee is comprised of a number of admistrators, faculty members, trustees and students. Brian Hamm '02, one of the student representatives, said that the selection process is almost a year in length, and that any member of the College community, including members of the committee, can nominate a potential honorary degree candidate, one of which will become the graduation speaker.

According to the publishing house Walker and Company, Sobel was born in the Bronx and graduated from its prestigious High School of Sciences.

After finishing college, she began her career as a scientific writer, first writing manuals for field engineers at IBM and then co-hosting a medical program at a local television station in Maine.

She resumed her profession as a scientific writer in the news bureau at Cornell University before beginning to freelance for Omni and Science Digest, as well as Harvard Magazine. Her published work in Harvard Magazine caught the attention of editors at The New York Times, where she began writing in the science section.

"Longitude" was Sobel's first international bestseller, and it has been translated into over 20 foreign languages since its initial publication in 1995.

It has won several awards, including the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Book of the Year Award in England, Le Prix Faubert du Coton in France and Il Premio del Mare Circeo in Italy.

The Public Broadcasting Station program NOVA produced "Lost At Sea — The Search for Longitude," a television documentary adaptation of "Longitude," which aired in the fall of 1998, and is now producing a television documentary of "Galileo's Daughter."

Sobel's lifelong interest in astronomer Galileo Galilee prompted her to begin researching the relationship between Galileo and his daughter, Suor Maria Celeste, a Poor Clare nun.

Sobel traveled to Italy four times and translated original documents, including over 120 letters from Celeste to her father.

Sobel was the first to translate these letters into English, and she intersperses factual descriptions of Galileo's life and work with passages from Celeste's letters.

President John McCardell issued the formal invitation to Sobel and spoke highly of her writing abilities.

Referring to "Longitude," McCardell said that Sobel "brings to life the characters and elucidates with true grade the issues that led to the development of a reliable timepiece by which longitude could be measured."

He noted that this may often seem to be a "dull, dry" topic, but adds that Sobel is able to make it come alive and give readers a fuller understanding of the advance in technology.

Addressing Sobel's writing as a whole, McCardell said, "In her ability to write with clarity, intelligence and style about a subject that might more easily be treated by resorting to an impenetrable technical vocabulary, Dava Sobel broadens and heightens her considerable readership's understanding."

Many members of the College faculty and administration expressed pleasure with the committee's selection.

Eric Davis, secretary of the College and professor of political science, said that he has read both "Galileo's Daughter" and "Longitude" and gave them high praise.

"Both books provide thorough, compelling accounts of important events and individuals in the history of science," he said.

He noted that both books have earned best-seller status, showing that there is an audience for intelligent writing on science addressed to the non-specialist.

As scientific literacy is gaining importance in the world, Davis commented that "it is most appropriate for Middlebury to recognize Dava Sobel for her work in bringing an understanding of science to the many readers of her books."

David Bain, lecturer of English, called the choice "very exciting," and said, "her books … are beautifully written, as well as masterpieces of painstaking research.

"I think it is a great honor for the Class of 2002 to have such an internationally acclaimed and talented nonfiction writer [as its graduation speaker]," he continued.

Professor of English David Price echoed Bain's praise of Sobel as an excellent choice, saying that her "work is both informative and about highly consequential subjects, and because her writing is clear, forceful and characterized by an appealing enthusiasm and intellectual excitement."