Hal Clement (Harry Stubbs) was a fixture on the Boskone Program from the first Boskone until his death in 2003 — forty consecutive conventions (and that doesn't count the Boskones he attended in the 1940s). He combined a deep knowledge of science blended with wonder and he combined joy in the learning of it with joy in the teaching of it.
After his death, NESFA decided to honor him by establishing the Hal Clement Science Speaker as a memorial. Each year we bring someone who shares his wide interest in science combined with a love of science fiction to speak at Boskone.
2009's Hal Clement Science Speaker will be Geoffrey A. Landis a scientist and SF writer. Writing is not his full time job. In my main job, he is a scientist at the John Glenn Research Center, where I work on Mars missions and an developing advanced concepts and technology for future space missions.
Awards
1991 H. C. Urey Prize, American Astronomical Society
1994 MacVicar Fellowship for teaching excellence at M.I.T.
Previous Hal Clement Science Speakers
| Hal Clement Science Speakers | ||
| Boskone 46, 2009 | Geoffrey A. Landis | |
| Boskone 44, 2007 | Richard Binzel | |
| Boskone 43, 2006 | William K. Hartmann | |
| Boskone 42, 2005 | Alastair Reynolds | |
| Boskone 41, 2004 | John Cramer | |