Postponed speech to explore North Pole secrets

The James P. Holland Memorial Lecture, originally scheduled for Monday, Oct. 8, has been rescheduled for Monday.\nS. Allen Counter will deliver a lecture, "Matthew Henson and the North Pole Secret," at 4 p.m. Monday in Jordan Hall Room A100. A reception will follow the lecture in the Jordan Hall Atrium. Both events are free and open to the public. \nCounter is director of the Harvard Foundation, a neurophysiologist at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital and a scientific explorer.\nCounter has conducted basic and clinical research in the United States and abroad, including studies of lead and mercury poisoning among Andean children in Ecuador.\nA professional explorer, Counter has undertaken scientific and medical missions and cultural research as far afield as South American rain forests and Greenland. His work has led to a greater appreciation of the contribution made by Matthew Henson, an African-American Artic explorer, to the discovery of the North Pole in 1909 in association with Robert Peary.\nAs a result of Counter's efforts, Henson was posthumously honored by the National Geographic Society and his remains moved by U.S. presidential order to Arlington National Cemetery, to rest along side Peary's. \nThe James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series was initiated in fall 2000 by the Office of the Vice President for Student Development and Diversity, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Department of Biology. It honors Biology Professor James P. Holland, who died of cancer in 1998.