WKU Libraries To Host Smithsonian Curator For Lecture

November 14, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. Roger D. Launius, Curator of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian, will speak for Western Kentucky University Libraries’ “Far Away Places” series at 7 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 20) at Barnes & Noble.
 
“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Launius in Bowling Green,” said Dr. Brian Coutts, head of WKU’s Library Public Services. “He is considered one of the nation’s most prominent space historians and has authored or edited more than 25 books.”
 
Launius’ latest book, “Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution and Interplanetary Travel,” will be the topic of discussion. In the book, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Launius and co-author Howard McCurdy of American University address the issue of how to best explore space: with humans or robots. 

According to Smithsonian’s “Air & Space” magazine, Launius and McCurdy “breathe new life into the subject by examining its history as well as its possible future. They call for a new vision of human spaceflight—a ‘transhuman’ program that takes into account current trends in robotics, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and other fields that are rapidly changing the nature of both humans and machines.”

Hopkins Press describes the book “as entertaining as it is edifying and their assertions are as sound as they are fantastical.  Rather than asking us to suspend disbelief, Robots in Space demands that we accept facts as they evolve.”
               
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For information, contact Jennifer Wilson at (270) 745-6977.