begun, most observers expected a diplomatic compromise would be worked out. The gallery, The Galileo Aair, will explore what went wrong. Other stories of Galileo’s World bring the worlds of Asia, America and the Middle East together. In a previous issue of Sooner Horizons, we discovered that Galileo had a friend who travelled to China and wrote works in Chinese. Later in this issue we will see that Galileo’s World invites our students to ponder why one of the most impressive works of the Scientic Revolution portrays Galileo in Middle Eastern dress, or how the scientic revolution was inuenced by native civilizations of central Mexico. Galileo’s World draws us into stories like these, and so brings the diverse worlds of a modern research university together. To engage such stories is an active experience. Thus—in addition to supporting the research of advanced scholars—special collections at OU Libraries invite students to enter the drama for themselves, to explore exhibitions as opportunities for undergraduate research. Galileo’s World will put to rest the idea that a library exhibition consists of dusty cases full of musty old books; rather Galileo’s World will be a form of performance
art. Together, through vigorous conversation, interactive digital assets and various exhibition-related activities, we will throw open the “windows upon worlds” which the rare books present to all of us. With this exhibition, OU becomes part of the ongoing story of Galileo.
Galileo Galilei, Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche (Leiden, 1638)
Francesco Stelluti, Federigo Cesi, Trattato del legno fossile minerale (Rome, 1637)
THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA LIBRARIES • 7
Francis Bacon, Instauratio magna (London, 1620)
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS Fall 2014–Spring 2015 The George & Cecilia McGhee Artifact Collection: A Voyage through China, Mesoamerica and the Middle East, Monnet Hall room 300
Spring–Summer 2015 Transforming the Oklahoma Prairie: More Than a Century of Trees from David Ross Boyd to David L. Boren, Monnet Hall room 300
UPCOMING EXHIBITION Fall 2015 - Fall 2016 Galileo’s World
For additional information, please contact: University of Oklahoma Libraries 401 W. Brooks St. Norman, OK 73019-6030 405-325-2611 http://libraries.ou.edu
e University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo is publication, printed by University of Oklahoma Printing Services, is issued by the University of Oklahoma Libraries. 1,000 copies have been prepared and distributed at no cost to the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma. (4/2015)