Lima is hometown to one of the world’s most famous astrophysicists. William A. Fowler won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his efforts to show how all the natural elements in the Periodic Table are forged under extreme conditions across the course of a star’s lifetime. To honor his achievements in astrophysics, Stardust: The William Fowler Science Series was born through a partnership between the City of Lima, Lima City Schools and the Ohio State University at Lima.
The William Fowler Science Series is a cross-disciplinary program for the community and local middle and high school students. The Lima City Schools, in collaboration with outstanding Ohio State University faculty and leaders, focus a portion of their fall semester's science curriculum on the Science Series' topic of the year. This year's focus is the eclipse.
In 2024, Ohio State’s Dr. Wayne Schlingman visited campus to speak about “Why Eclipses Enthrall Us.” Dr. Schlingman joined The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy in 2014 as the director of the Arne Slettebak Planetarium.