David Levy has discovered 21 comets, written 31 books and is Parade Magazine's science editor, but he has never taken an astronomy course.
Levy will speak at the Katzen Music Hall at 7 p.m. today about U.S. space policy.
As this year's John J. Rhodes Chair in Public Policy and American Institutions, Levy brings a unique field of study to ASU: the relation of astronomy to literature.
Levy is the first Rhodes chair with a background in science. He holds a master's degree in English literature and three honorary doctorates for his work in astronomy.
"I'm hoping it enriches people by offering different experiences with different holders of the chair," Levy said in a phone interview Tuesday.
As a Rhodes chair, Levy currently is teaching "From Shakespeare to Space." He held a public "Star Party" on Hayden Lawn on Wednesday.
"The placement of the wisdom of the earth next to the wisdom of the sky was an incredibly inspiring moment," he said.
Jennifer Adkins, event coordinator for the Barrett Honors College, said Levy was chosen in part because astronomy was a pastime of the late John Rhodes, for whom the endowment is named.
She also said Levy has a strong ability for communicating complex ideas.
"He's so interdisciplinary, he can talk the layman's talk," Adkins said. "People won't even know that they are taking in the information."
The Rhodes chair began in 1998 with Henry Kissinger, a friend of Rhodes.
Friends and family of Rhodes endowed the chair with money from an unused 1988 gubernatorial campaign fund.
The chair began as a public lecture with the chair only spending one day on campus.
But today, the chair consists of a lecture, an event series and a semester teaching on campus.
Levy discovered his first comet in 1984 from his back yard in Tucson.
"It was an extraordinary feeling," Levy said of the event. "For 45 minutes, nature had opened a window for me."
Today, after finding so many comets, the feeling never gets old for Levy.
"It's the search that's fun," he said. "There's enough to see in the sky to last a lifetime."
Reach the reporter at elias.arnold@asu.edu.
