Award-winning writer, documentarian to headline Presidential Lecture Series event, kicking off Purdue’s celebration of America’s 250th

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Bestselling writer, documentarian and television producer Timothy Ferris will kick off the spring semester’s Presidential Lecture Series on Feb. 26 with a conversation with Purdue University President Mung Chiang addressing the pivotal role of science in advancing democracy and economic development. The lecture also commences Purdue’s yearlong celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday.

The Ferris PLS event, titled “The Science of Liberty: How Liberalism Arose From Science and Sparks Prosperity,” is at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required. For tickets and more information, go here. The Purdue Convocations bag policy will be in effect for this event.

Light refreshments will be provided to ticket holders beginning at 5:15 p.m. in the nearby Ringel Gallery. Fowler doors will open at 5:30 p.m. A commemorative gift will be given to departing Presidential Lecture Series attendees as part of Purdue’s America250 celebration. Parking ticket validation also will be available for the Grant Street Parking Garage.

“Our Presidential Lecture Series lineup this spring is incredibly impressive and extra special, leading off with award-winning science writer Timothy Ferris,” Chiang said. “Called ‘the best popular science writer in the English language,’ Ferris brings an impressive vita to our university campus for this event — and also will help Purdue launch its yearlong America250 celebration of this great nation’s 250th birthday.”

Ferris is the author of a dozen books including “The Science of Liberty,” “Seeing in the Dark,” “The Whole Shebang” and “Coming of Age in the Milky Way,” which was translated into 15 languages and named by The New York Times as among the leading books published in the 20th century.

In his bestselling “The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature,” published in 2010, Ferris highlights the pivotal role that science plays at the core of liberty and free expression and as a precursor to a liberal society while also advancing and promoting economic prosperity. His three documentary films — “The Creation of the Universe,” “Life Beyond Earth” and “Seeing in the Dark” — premiered in prime time on PBS.

Ferris produced the Voyager phonograph record, an artifact of human civilization containing music, sounds of Earth and encoded photographs launched aboard the twin Voyager interstellar spacecraft now exiting the solar system. He also was among the journalists selected as candidates to fly aboard the space shuttle in 1986.

A former newspaper reporter and editor of Rolling Stone magazine, Ferris has written over 200 articles and essays for major publications. He also edited the anthologies “Best American Science Writing 2001” and the “World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics.”

Called “the best popular science writer in the English language” by Christian Science Monitor, Ferris has received the American Institute of Physics’ science-writing prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his works have been nominated for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ferris has taught in five disciplines — astronomy, English, history, journalism and philosophy — at four universities. Currently, he is a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

A native of Miami, Ferris earned bachelor’s degrees in English and communications from Northwestern University.

About the Presidential Lecture Series

Launched in 2014 by then-Purdue President Mitch Daniels and continued by President Mung Chiang, the Presidential Lecture Series exposes Purdue students and the broader community to inspiring ideas, courageous leadership, and models of civic engagement and civil discourse. The Presidential Lecture Series has had dozens of guests of many viewpoints and perspectives and hosted some of the great intellectual, business and civic leaders of our time. As one of the world’s premier centers of scholarly leadership, Purdue is — appropriately and necessarily — a regular venue for great thinkers across a wide variety of disciplines.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its integrated, comprehensive Indianapolis urban expansion; the Mitch Daniels School of Business; Purdue Computes; and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.