Calvin to name asteroid as part of Black History Month

Summary: To celebrate Black History Month in February Calvin College has planned a series of events, including the naming of a recently discovered asteroid after Benjamin Banneker, the first African-American scientist.

On Wednesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. in the Science Building, Calvin professors Larry Molnar and Eric Washington will present the amazing story of Benjamin Banneker, the first African-American scientist.

Calvin College will celebrate the life of this innovative 19th-century scientist with the naming of Asteroid Banneker, one of a number of asteroids recently discovered by the Calvin College Observatory. Molnar counts it an honor to be able to name an asteroid after Banneker.

"It's common to name asteroids after notable astronomers, but somehow Banneker got left out. What's uncommon about Calvin is that we can do something about that," Molnar said.

Molnar explained that faculty and students work together each semester to discover and then track the orbits of asteroids, something that sets Calvin apart from most any undergraduate institution in the country.

For more information on this event, contact Larry Molnar at 616-526-6341 or visit www.calvin.edu/observatory.
For a complete schedule of Black History Month events put on by the program for African and African Diaspora Studies, visit www.calvin.edu/academic/african.

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Received on Mon Feb 1 14:31:10 2010