Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale-1800  White House Historical Association

Fred Sawyer, President of the North American Sundial Society and editor of the Compendium sundial journal will present a lecture on "Gnomonic Tales of Thomas Jefferson (and other Founding Fathers)" on Thursday evening, April 10th at 7pm at the Great Falls Library, VA.  Reservations are required.  Contact the Fairfax County Libraries for more information.

The lecture will consider sundials in the lives of Thomas Jefferson and other prominent figures of early America such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  Rather than serving simply as timekeeping devices, sundials will be seen as academic exercises, inspirations for poetry, symbols of an industrious new country, invitations to relaxation, and opportunities for invention.

Fred is a cofounder and the current president of the North American Sundial Society (NASS), and a vice president of the British Sundial Society.  He is also the editor of The Compendium, having been responsible for each of the 80 quarterly issues to date.  He has authored over 100 articles on gnomonics, and is a regular speaker at both NASS and BSS conferences.  His interests lie primarily in theory, historical techniques for drawing dials, and new dial forms (including his own wandering gnomon, equant, compressed gnomonic, Ptolemaic coordinate, Foster point, and other varieties).

In 2000, Fred and his family instituted the Sawyer Dialing Prize awarded each year at the NASS conference to an individual for accomplishments in, or contributions to, dialing or the dialing community.