Dava Sobel, a former New York Times science reporter, is the author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven. In her forty years as a science journalist she has written for many magazines, including Audubon, Discover, Life, and The New Yorker. Within the context of the Academic Chair ‘History and Philosophy of Sciences’ Dava Sobel, the New York science writer and author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven will reside in Brussels from May 20 to May 22, 2014 .

By 1514, Nicolaus Copernicus had developed an outline of his heliocentric theory, in which he placed the sun at the center of the universe. Over the next two decades, he worked on a revolutionary manuscript, which for fear of ridicule, he refused to publish. In 1539, a young German mathematician, Georg Joachim Rheticus, traveled to Poland to seek out Copernicus. In 1543, just before Copernicus’s death, Rheticus had his master’s manuscript published as De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres).

The play ‘And the Sun Stood Still’ imagines Rheticus’s struggle to convince Copernicus to let his manuscript see the light of day. Two scenes of this play will be presented in a staged reading by the actors and performers Kate McIntosh and Jerry Killick.

Program:

18.00-19.30: Staged reading with Dava Sobel, by Kate McKintoshand Jerry Killick

19.30-20.30: Drinks

Participation is free, but please book at tickets@kaaitheater.be