"Body Farm" Founder To Speak at Dobyns-Bennett Little Theater
Online, October 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Friends of the Kingsport Public Library are sponsoring a presentation by University of Tennessee's Professor Emeritus forensic anthropologist and Body Farm founder Dr. Bill Bass on Thursday, December 2, 2010. Highlighting prominent research and intriguing cases of Dr. Bass' career, the presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Dobyns- Bennett High School Little Theater.
Copies of Bass' books are available for purchase outside the Little Theater, and Dr. Bass will be signing books beginning at 6:00 p.m. when the doors open.
Admission for the event is $10, with proceeds donated to the Kingsport Public Library Building Renovation Fund. Ticket sales are limited to the Little Theater seating capacity of 540. Pre-sale tickets with discounts to Downtown Kingsport businesses will be available at the Library's Circulation Desk on Nov. 2, 2010. Based on available seating, the public can also purchase admission at the time of the event.
Individuals, businesses and families interested in joining or renewing membership with Friends of the Kingsport Public Library (FOL) can take advantage of a $5.00 discount the day of the event at the Little Theatre. FOL memberships offer discounts to area businesses, advance notice of book sales and feature presentations, and more.
A prominent journalist author, educator, and speaker, Dr. Bass is famous for his research on human osteology and decomposition. He has written or co-authored more than two hundred scientific publications, many based on murder cases and mysteries he helped law enforcement agencies solve. Now retired from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, he continues to play an active research role at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility known as the "Body Farm", which he founded in 1971.
Dr. Bass attended the University of Virginia for his undergraduate degree, and received his master's from the University of Kentucky. He completed his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. His research career began as an archaeologist, excavating Native American gravesites in the Midwest United States during the 1950s. He mentions in "Death's Acre", somewhat humorously, that this activity earned him the informal title "Indian grave-robber number one" from the local Native American leaders. Follow his writing in his latest novel, "The Bone Thief", which details a seemingly routine case to obtain a bone sample for DNA paternity testing. The plot thickens when this case turns out to be anything but routine.