FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 21, 2001 CONTACT Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 MIT PHYSICIST AND AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT DRAKE Alan Lightman, a novelist and physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak at Drake University on Monday, Sept. 24, and Tuesday, Sept. 25. His talk, titled "The Physicist as Novelist: At the Crossroads of Science and the Arts," will start at 12:30 p.m. both days in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main, 26th Street and University Avenue. Both talks, which are free and open to the public, will be followed by a reception in Levitt Hall in Old Main. Lightman has written four well-received novels, including "Einstein’s Dreams." His latest book, "The Diagnosis," was a finalist for the National Book Award in the fiction category. He also is affiliated with the MIT Program on Writing and Humanistic Studies. Lightman will be the first speaker in Drake's First Year Seminar Lecture Series, which is organized by professor David Skidmore, coordinator of the First Year Seminar Program. "I invited Lightman to speak in the First Year Seminar Program because he is a strong believer in building bridges between the sciences and humanities and his own career is a living embodiment of that commitment," Skidmore said. For more information, call (515) 271-3843.