The Vernon Lecture Fund

The Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation also administers the “Vernon Lecture Fund,” and awards an honorarium to an individual for contributions to astronomy and for delivering a public lecture on astronomical or related topics. The Vernon Lecture, named after one of the co-founders of the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory, has been held annually at the University of Delaware since 1979.

If you have a suggestion for a topic for a Vernon Lecture, please email MCAF Grant Administrator with your idea.

Recent Vernon Lecture speakers and titles:

2023 Fall Dr. Sarah Johnson, Georgetown University

(click here to see Dr. Johnson's lecture)

2020 Canceled due to COVID restrictions

2019 Fall Dr. Kelly Korreck, Harvard Center for Astrophysics

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2019 Spring, Dr. Joseph Taylor, 1993 Nobel Laureate, Princeton University

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2018 Hilton Lewis, Director of Keck Observatory

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2018 Dr. Veronique Petit, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2017 Jane Rigby, Deputy Project Scientist for Operations - JWST, NASA

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

 2017 Emily Rice, Assistant Professor, College of Staten Island, City University of New York

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2016 Dr. Mike Montgomery, Dept of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2016 Harry Shipman, Annie Jump Cannon Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware

2015 Fergal Mullally, Kepler Science Officer, SETI/NASA Ames Research

2014 Carolyn Porco, Imaging Science Team Leader, NASA Cassini Mission

2013 Dr David Jewitt, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

2012 Dr Mark Morris, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

2011 Dr Greg Laughlin, Professor and Chair, Department of Astronomy, University of California at Santa Cruz

2010 Captain Alan Bean, Retired US Navy, Apollo 12 Astronaut

(click here to see a video of the lecture)

2009 Dr. Alex Filippenko, Professor, University of California Berkeley