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CORVALLIS, Ore. - A noted science historian will discuss standards of proof and evidence in science, law and historical scholarship through the ages during a Horning Lecture on Thursday, March 9, at Oregon State University.

Ken Alder's talk, "Proof of Identity: Scientific Evidence and Historical Method since the Renaissance," begins at 4 p.m. in the Joyce Powell Leadership Center in OSU's Memorial Union. Free and open to the public, the talk is part of OSU's 2005-06 Horning Lecture Series, which focuses on Marriage, Reproduction and Sexuality.

Alder is the Milton H. Wilson Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University and a prize-winning author. He will be on the OSU campus March 6-10 as a Thomas Hart and Mary Jones Horning Visiting Scholar in the Humanities. In addition to his public lecture, Alder will present an informal colloquium on his research and meet with OSU students and faculty.

His public lecture at OSU introduces the story of an old man who turned up in Paris in 1670 claiming to be the long-vanished husband of a woman who had since become the widow of one of France's richest men. His proof: the similarity of his signature with a signature on his old marriage record.

Alder's most 2002 book, "The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World," outlines the story of two late 18th-century French astronomers who claimed to have established the exact length of the meter. The book has been translated into 13 languages, and featured on National Public Radio, the BBC and elsewhere.

His most recent book, "The Lie Detectors: Truth, Justice and the History of the American Polygraph," explores the history of the mechanical device.