Former "Python" John Cleese is among three Andrew D. White Professors-at-Large who will give public talks at Cornell University this month – but he's the only you will need tickets to hear.

The other visiting professors are Osvaldo Sala, an international leader in ecological science and global environmental policy, and renowned reproductive physiologist Roger Short. All talks are free and open to the public.

Cleese – a movie actor and performer in the legendary TV comedy show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" – will narrate Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, Saturday, April 15, at 3 p.m. in the State Theatre. Free tickets will be distributed Thursday, April 6, starting at 7:30 a.m. in the lobby of Willard Straight Hall and are limited to two tickets per person.

This will be Cleese's final visit as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, and while on campus he will participate in classes and meet with student groups and Cornell faculty members. He originally was appointed for a six-year term in 1998 and proved so popular, the Cornell Board of Trustees extended his appointment for an additional two years.

Sala's first visit will include two public talks: "Scenarios" on Tuesday, April 11, at 4 p.m. in the Morison Room at Corson-Mudd Hall; and "Capacity Building for Ecological and Environmental Sciences in Latin America" on Wednesday, April 12, at 3 p.m. in 300 Rice Hall. Sala also will participate in classes and meet with faculty and students in ecology and evolutionary biology, Latin American studies, earth and atmospheric sciences, natural resources and horticulture.

Sala is professor of biology at Brown University, where he also serves as director of the Environmental Chance Initiative and of the Center for Environmental Studies. His expertise in ecology spans from the arid ecosystems of Patagonia to global change issues, with a focus on ecosystem-level questions that include primary production, ecosystem-water dynamics and biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. He is president of the Latin American Plant Sciences Network and secretary general of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. He has collaborated on numerous co-authored international publications. For more information on Sala's background, visit http://www.agro.uba.ar/users/sala/.

Short's final visit includes a public talk, "New Ways of Preventing HIV Infection: Thinking Simply, Simply Thinking," Tuesday, April 25, at noon, in the Baker Institute on Hungerford Road.

Short also will participate in classes on population dynamics, animal science, human sexuality, international nutrition, and science and technology studies. He will meet with researchers of the Cornell Equine Genetics Center, the Laboratory of Reproductive Biology and the Elephant Listening Project. He also will give a talk, "The Elephant: Nature's Masterpiece," to veterinary students.

The author of "Reproduction in Mammals" and "Ever Since Adam and Eve," Short is the Wexler Professorial Fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Royal Women's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research in human and animal reproduction has significantly influenced knowledge of mother-fetal interactions; comparative pregnancy and sexual behavior of animals; human fertility and contraception; global overpopulation and societal issues; and the sexual transmission of AIDS.