Universities hosting events to watch our lectures!

Tonight's first lecture was an amazing way to kick off our Darwin150 Lecture Series. A big part of tonight's success was due to universities around the world hosting events, so students and teachers could watch the webcast together. 

The following universities/colleges watched Professor Mendelsohn's lecture as a group and have really done incredible work in using this event as a building block for more learning. They're creating their own posters and advertisements, hosting live Q&A sessions, and more.

We are really excited about this wonderful development in the campaign. Thanks to these great institutions for their support and hope they enjoyed our first lecture!

If you're not listed below or if you want to get involved in campus/community outreach and become a Darwin150 representative for your organization, please shoot us an email at pterry @ readingodyssey dot com.

• Washington University, St. Louis
• Texas A&M University, College Station
• Iowa State University, Ames
• McMaster University
• Institute of Ecology Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
• Middlebury College
• Baylor University
• Wagner Free Institute
• UNC and NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill
• Illinois Wesleyan, Bloomington
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• San Jacinto College Central, Pasadena, TX
• University of Maryland, College Park

Audio recording of Darwin150 kickoff lecture

We just finished the kickoff lecture of the Darwin150 campaign, "The World Before Darwin",  by the wonderful Professor Emeritus Everett Mendelsohn. Credited with being a cofounder of the social history of science, Professor Mendelsohn has taught and wowed students at Harvard for 50 years.

You can download the mp3 file and listen to his great lecture here.

And you can sign-up for the rest of the Darwin150 lecture series here: http://Darwin150.com/events

UPDATE: The video from the webcast is available for viewing here.

Kickoff lecture, "World Before Darwin", tomorrow Wed 9/16

The kickoff lecture for our Darwin150 campaign is tomorrow, Wednesday 9/16 live at Harvard and via webcast at 8pm Boston time.

Everett Mendelsohn, Professor Emeritus and “one of the founders of the social history of science", will be delivering the lecture "The World Before Darwin."  A professor at Harvard since 1960, Everett Mendelsohn has earned a reputation as one of the most engaging teachers for undergraduates and nonscience majors. 

There are still a few seats left at the Harvard Science center - and some more spots for the live webcast, which can be viewed from anywhere around the world.

To sign-up free for this kickoff lecture, register here: http://darwinlecture1.eventbrite.com

Many universities, science museums and other institutions are hosting public showings of the live webcast. 

For example, the Texas A&M Biology, Neuroscience, Wildlife and Fishery Services, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology departments have planned a whole series of programs using the Darwin150 lecture series. See what they done here.

Prove the Creation movie isn't too controversial for the U.S.!

creation movie paul bettany as charles darwinOver the weekend, the Internet was abuzz with news that the Creation movie, a partner of the Darwin150 Project and the Darwin Facebook Group, is still without a distribution deal in the US, even though it has distribution almost everywhere else in the world.

The original article that was being tweeted (and retweeted) is here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6173399/Charles-Darwin-film-too-controversial-for-religious-America.html

creation movie paul bettany as charleApparently only 39% of Americans believe in evolution according to a Feb 2009 Gallup poll.

The film has been written about (although not reviewed yet) by Roger Ebert and Eugenie Scott, Director of the National Center for Science Education (another sponsor of our project!) gave her thoughts on the film on the Panda's Thumb blog.

From the press kit:

creation movie paul bettany as charles darwin, jennifer connelly as emma darwinPart ghost story, part psychological thriller, part heart-wrenching love story, CREATION is the powerful story of Charles Darwin and the single most explosive idea in history.

Paul Bettany (MASTER AND COMMANDER, A BEAUTIFUL MIND) stars as a young Charles Darwin, writing On the Origin of Species. His theory would turn the world upside down, and challenge the love of his deeply religious wife (played by real life partner Jennifer Connelly, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, BLOOD DIAMOND).

His beliefs remain controversial even today.

The film  is directed by Jon Amiel (Entrapment, Sommersby, The Singing Detective) from a screenplay by John Collee (Master and the Commander: The Far Side of the World, Happy Feet), based upon Randal Keynes’ book, ‘Annie’s Box’, about the life of his great great grandfather Charles Darwin. Produced by Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast)

Check out the video clips here:

Quicktime: http://video.thinkjam.com/?h=8cd313e4b4b8223046f32022ff8640b7&q=hi&m=qt

RealPlayer: http://video.thinkjam.com/?h=8cd313e4b4b8223046f32022ff8640b7&q=hi&m=real

Windows Media: http://video.thinkjam.com/?h=8cd313e4b4b8223046f32022ff8640b7&q=hi&m=win

We are encouraging people who want to prove that there is an audience for the film, to join our Facebook group. At over 250,000 members, we have already shown that there is real support for Darwin and science by the general public, but we want to be even bigger. Help us get to our goal of 1 million!

And don't forget, the Creation movie and the rest of our sponsors, including National Geographic, Citrix Online, Campaign Monitor, Harvard University of Comparative Zoology, National Center for Science Education, and New York Academy of Sciences have partnered with us to celebrate the 150th anniversary of "On the Origin of Species" with a series of events this Fall.

Our first free event live at Harvard and via webcast and phone is this Wed. September 16 with Professor Everett Mendelsohn. Professor Mendelsoh will speak on "The World Before Darwin" drawing from his popular undergraduate course, "The Darwinian Revolution" and his many decades of experience studying the history of science and the impact of Darwin.

 It's selling out, so register here for our first event!

National Geographic covers Darwin150 campaign

national geographicNational Geographic just wrote an article about the Darwin150 campaign "Darwin Devotees Make 'Father of Evolution' Facebook Superstar!"

You can see their positive write-up here. Among other things, it really underscores what an incredible volunteer effort the Darwin Facebook Group has become.

Who would've thought a just-for-kicks Facebook campaign to wish Darwin a Happy Birthday would turn into a quarter of a million people within the general public showing support for Darwin and science, and even starting a multi-part lecture series with some of the most prominent scientists in the world?