Celebrate Ben Franklins 319th Birthday
The 319-year-old Philadelphian tradition of celebrating the birthday of Benjamin Franklin is back on Friday, January 17, 2025. It is a three-part event featuring: a free morning panel; a free procession to Franklin’s Grave; a ticketed luncheon honoring NASA’s Dr. John C. Mather.
The free morning seminar from 9-11am will be moderated by Dr. Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at The Franklin Institute Science Museum, with panelists: Dr. Emily A. Margolis Curator of Contemporary Spaceflight, Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum; Dr. Mariangela Bernardi Professor, University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Tess Lavezzi Light, Electromagnetic Sciences and Cognitive Space Group, Intelligence and Space Research, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The seminar will be followed from 11:15am-12pm by a lively procession North on 5th street from Chestnut to Arch to Franklin’s gravesite at Christ Church, featuring music, a fire engine, banners, and flags.
At 12:15pm, the luncheon at the Museum of the American Revolution will feature Dr. Mather, a Senior Scientist, cosmology, at NASA who received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006, and has been Senior Project Scientist for the Webb Space Telescope. During this paid luncheon he will give a talk called, "Opening New Worlds with the James Webb Space Telescope", and receive the 2025 Franklin Founder Award.
