Zoom Talk: The Eclipse that Enlightened America

Join us for a Zoom talk full of historical images and fun anecdotes, plus a Q&A about all things eclipse!

With the total solar eclipse of 2024 rapidly approaching, author and eclipse-chaser David Baron shares a pertinent tale from the distant past.

In the summer of 1878, a similar eclipse traversed America’s Wild West, darkening the frontier while rousing the ambitions of an entire nation. The event lured to the Rocky Mountains many of the era’s great minds—including Vassar College astronomer Maria Mitchell, who headed an all-female expedition to Denver, and a young Thomas Edison, who after observing the eclipse in Wyoming soon lit the world with his most famous invention.

Free and open to all, but space is limited and registration is required! Sign up now on Zoom.

David Baron is an award-winning author, journalist, and broadcaster. A former science correspondent for NPR and recent Chair in Astrobiology at the Library of Congress, he has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and other outlets. An avid eclipse chaser whose TED Talk has been viewed more than two million times, Baron has witnessed eight total solar eclipses across five continents.

This program is a collaboration between Croton Free Library, Putnam Valley Library, and Tuckahoe Public Library.