The Star of Bethlehem - fact or fiction?

Internationally renowned materials scientist Professor Colin Humphreys will present a free lecture, Astronomy and the Star of Bethlehem, at the University of Queensland on Wednesday, July 2.

The public lecture, which will examine if the Star of Bethlehem existed and the story of tracking it down from ancient Chinese records, will be held at the Abel Smith Lecture Theatre at 8pm.

Professor Humphreys is currently visiting Australia as the Australian Academy of Science Selby Travelling Fellow 1997.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1996 and is a member of government and industry panels including Vice-Chairman of the UK's Technology Foresight Committee on Materials.

His lecture topics are as diverse as From artificial hips to metals with a memory - the amazing world of modern materials to historical topics including Science and the Date of the Exodus.

Professor Humphreys is a regular on television and radio shows and in the national press and featured on the ABC's Robyn Williams show. He has published more than 300 scientific papers.

In 1996 he lectured to more than 400 physics school teachers at their annual meeting in the UK, to schools, to the general public and at the Royal Society on How to win a Nobel Prize.

The UK Institute of Physics has elected him their Fellow in the Public Understanding of Physics for 1997/98.

For information contact Jill Lumsdale at the University of Queensland on 07 3365 7907.