Steven Beckwith, former Cornell University professor of astronomy and now director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the astronomical research center responsible for operating the Hubble Space Telescope as an international observatory, will be among the speakers at a daylong symposium May 15 at Cornell University. He will speak on "The Future of Astronomy from Space: The Next Generation Space Telescope."

The symposium, "Observing the Universe," is being held to honor Yervant Terzian on his 60th birthday. Terzian, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell, is stepping down July 1 after 20 years as chair of the Cornell Department of Astronomy.

The symposium is being held in the Conference Room of the Biotechnology Building starting at 9:30 a.m. with an opening address by Philip Lewis, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. It is free and is open to the public.

The opening talk is by Bruce Balick, professor of astronomy at the University of Washington, who studied for his doctorate at Cornell under Terzian. His talk is titled "Planetary Nebulae: Revisiting 'Old Friends.'"

Other speakers will include, Carl Heiles, University of California at Berkeley ("The Eridanus Superbubble in its Multiwavelength Glory"); Kiriaki Xilouris of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Cornell ("Pulsar Science with the Upgraded Arecibo Telescope"); Shri Kulkarni of the California Institute of Technology ("Search for Extra-Solar Planets"); Mario Livio of the STScI ("Astrophysical Jets"); Edward Khachikian of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Republic of Armenia ("Galaxies with Double Nuclei"); and Edwin Salpeter, the J.G. White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences Emeritus at Cornell ("Galaxy Pairs and Dark Matter").