Darwin150 kickoff lecture "selling out"

The kickoff of our four-part lecture series is next week at Harvard with Professor Emeritus Everett Mendelsohn. With more than 50 years as a member of the Harvard faculty, most credit Mendelsohn with helping to develop the social history of science. 

This lecture is available live via webcast from anywhere in the world (and there are only a few seats available at the Harvard science center for those based in the Boston area). 

Lecture 1: "The World Before Darwin"

Professor Everett Mendelsohn, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
8:00PM EST/5:00PM PST
Register here to participate for free: (live at Harvard or via live webcast or phone)
http://darwinlecture1.eventbrite.com/

Thanks to Darwin150 sponsor, National Center for Science Education,  for promoting the lecture

Join us.

Science Magazine promotes Darwin150.com and Darwin Facebook Group!

Science Magazine at ScienceMag.org just did a piece on the origins of the Darwin Facebook Group and The Darwin 150 Project on their blog!

The headline is Join Darwin on Facebook (can't get better than that!) and includes this great quote from esteemed scientist, Sean Carroll:

"This series is unique in both the medium and the audience," says evolutionary biologist and author Sean Carroll of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who has been active in Darwin celebrations across the globe and is involved in making a TV documentary on evolution. "It will be interesting to see its reach and the make-up of the audience."

Professor Carroll is headlining the third free lecture in our upcoming series and is a wonderful speaker--don't miss him! Register here to attend live or via webcast or phone.

Lecture 3: "The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution"
Professor Sean Carroll, University of Wisconsin
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
8:00PM EST/5:00PM PST
Register here to participate for free: (live at University of Wisconsin or via live webcast or phone)
http://darwinlecture3.eventbrite.com/

We are so excited about this project and thrilled that ScienceMag.org felt we were worthy of the mention. Thank you, Science Magazine.

Visit ScienceMag.org for the full story!

Who cares about The World Before Darwin?

We are extremely lucky to be working with Professor Everett Mendelsohn, Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus at Harvard and one of the University's most popular professors, on the first of our free public lecture series this Fall. His lecture will be on "The World Before Darwin," explaining the context in which Darwin's discoveries were truly revolutionary, and setting the stage for our subsequent lectures on Darwin's work.

Students rave about "his ability to connect scientific developments to their historical and social context, and praise the way in which he got undergraduates to interact with course material."

Mendelsohn believes that the sciences "have a real responsibility to make sure that the enlightened citizenry can understand what science is about...emphasizing that Harvard's science faculty should take care to speak to non-science people to increase their confidence that they can and should gain an understanding of what's happening in the sciences."

The Darwin 150 Project Lecture Series is designed to educate the public on the most important insights from Darwin's great book - as well as provide historical context and exciting discoveries at the frontiers of 21st century evolutionary biology.

Free registration for Professor Everett Mendelsohn's lecture is at http://darwinlecture1.eventbrite.com and the event will be available live at Harvard, or via webcast or teleconference.

If you snoozed through science in school or ever just wondered why you should care about Charles Darwin, this is your chance to find out from one of the best possible teachers on the subject!

Missed our call with Richard Milner? Listen to the mp3!

Last Wednesday, we kicked off our Fall Darwin150 Campaign -- the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" -- with scientist, editor, and author Richard Milner.

Milner delighted us with the stories, songs, and science of his new book, "Darwin's Universe." An Associate in Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, Richard Milner is an unusual combination of scientist, writer, historian, and Broadway actor.

Download the mp3 of our wonderful conversation here: Download RichardMilner-Aug-19-2009-ReadingOdyssey

We recommend Richard's wise and witty book. Buy it here: http://www.DarwinsUniverse.org

And check out Milner's musical performance website: http://www.DarwinLive.com

Don't miss our future events! Find out more and register for free on our Darwin Events page.

Richard Milner Lecture--3 days left to register! It's free!

Wednesday, August 19
Speaker, RICHARD MILNER
Associate in Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Contributing Editor of Natural History magazine and author of the just-released "Darwin's Universe"
Discussion of his new book, "Darwin's Universe"
8:00 PM EST/ 5:00 PM PST (1 hour call + Q&A)

REGISTER FOR FREE!

Wednesday, August 19, at 8pm eastern time, we will have a live phone-based discussion with Richard Milner about his new book, "Darwin's Universe." Hosted by The Reading Odyssey and the Darwin 150 Project. Sponsors include Citrix Online and HiDefConferencing.

Milner will help to set context for our 150th Anniversary Lecture Series to begin in September by talking broadly about Darwin, evolution and Milner's new book which catalogs the scientific, cultural, political impact of the theory of evolution.Milner shares with the Reading Odyssey community the idea that we have a lot to learn from the great thinkers, great books and ideas of the past - and that we can "talk" to those thinkers and learn from them. As Milner says in his introduction, there is a lot of value to creating a conversation with Darwin. "Despite our conviction that present scientific knowledge surpasses anything known a century ago, we can still learn a great deal by 'talking over' the  great questions of evolution and science with Darwin and his friends."
 

Richard Milner Associate in Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Contributing Editor of Natural History magazine and author of the just-released "Darwin's Universe"
Richard Milneris an Associate in Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, contributing editor at Natural History magazine, and Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Author of three award-winning books on evolution, he has published articles inScientific Americanand other science magazines and has been featured on the History, Discovery, and Animal Planet channels, as well as on BBC Two and Nova. Milner has performed his one-man musical Charles Darwin: Live & In Concert in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and in Darwin's beloved Galápagos Islands.

---