CARRABASSETT VALLEY — Carrabassett Valley Academy will host “A Life in Science: A lecture honoring Gary M. Boone” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the Potter Family Room at King Cummings Campus.

Mark Van Baalen of Harvard will be presenting.

This lecture honors Boone, a Maine native who spent a key portion of his professional career exploring the geology of this area in the late 1960s and early 70s.

The purpose of this lecture is to describe what a life in science might look like, based on Van Baalen’s experiences.

Van Baalen has served at Harvard since 1962 in a variety of roles, and is currently an associate in earth and planetary sciences. He started out in astronomy and astrophysics, working on satellites in the space program. After, he shifted to the nascent field of computer science and the origins of the Internet, and finally to a geologist.

He has taught courses in physical and environmental geology and acted as mentor to many students, a role that continues to the present. While performing geological fieldwork he has come into contact with many of the giants of the field, including Boone.

Presently Van Baalen is retired from teaching but continues his research and works with individual students. He leads Harvard Alumni Association excursions throughout the globe with his wife, Louisa. On these trips, he lectures on the natural history of the regions being visited, as well as present and past human interactions with these environments. He holds a commercial pilot’s license and is a member of the American Alpine Club.