The Herald-Dispatch

Janna Levin

Oct. 14, 2013 @ 11:30 PM

HUNTINGTON -- Dr. Janna Levin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, will be the featured speaker at the 2013 da Vinci Luncheon at Marshall University.

The fourth annual luncheon is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Memorial Student Center's John Marshall Dining Room. The event is sponsored by Marshall's Honors College and Office of the Provost.

Levin was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2012. Her scientific research concerns the early universe, chaos and black holes. Her second book, the novel "A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines," won the PEN/Bingham Fellowship for Writers which "honors an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work ... represents distinguished literary achievement ..." It also was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award for "a distinguished book of first fiction."

She is the author of the popular science book "How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space."

Levin has bachelor's degrees in physics and astronomy from Barnard College with a concentration in philosophy, and a doctorate in physics from MIT. She did research at the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the University of California-Berkeley before moving to the United Kingdom to work at Cambridge University.

Levin was the first scientist-in-residence at the Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University with an award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and Arts. She has written for many artists and appeared on several radio and television programs.

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Originally posted here:

Professor of physics, astronomy is 2013 da Vinci lecturer at Marshall