Springfield, Ohio - As part of the well-rounded 2000-01 Wittenberg Series theme of "Individualism and Commitment in American Public Life," best-selling author, mathematician and public speaker John Allen Paulos is presenting the IBM Endowed Lecture in the Sciences at 8 p.m., Monday, Feb. 19. The event will take place in Wittenberg’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Center.Paulos is a mathematics professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is an accomplished author, writing such best-selling books as "Innumeracy," "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper," "Once Upon a Number" and "I Think, Therefore I Laugh," scholarly papers on probability, logic and the philosophy of science, and columns on ABCNews.com. He also has penned numerous book reviews, articles and OpEd pieces in such publications as the New York Times, the Nation, the Wall Street Journal and the London Review of Books. Paulos also is a member of the Philadelphia Daily News editorial board.

Among his previous speaking appearances are presentations at the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Academy of Sciences, library and mathematics associations, and business and financial forums. He also has given a commencement address at the University of Wisconsin.

All Wittenberg Series events are free admission. Paulos’ presentation is the 12th of 13 events scheduled for the 2000-01 school year. Previous events/presenters include filmmaker Rory Kennedy, Columbus City Attorney Janet E. Jackson’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Convocation address and The Acting Company’s performance of Shakespeare’s "The Comedy of Errors." The final 2000-01 Wittenberg Series event is scheduled for March 19 when Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David K. Shipler speaks at Kissell Auditorium in Koch Hall.