SU to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday with discussion of evolution, fossil record

SU to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday with discussion of evolution, fossil recordJanuary 28, 2009Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

In honor of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, the earth sciences and biology departments in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences will present “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters,” a lecture by evolutionary scholar and author Donald R. Prothero, Thursday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium (Room 001).

The lecture is free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in the Booth Garage.

In addition to marking Darwin’s 200th birthday, 2009 is the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” Prothero, professor of paleontology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and a lecturer in geobiology at the California Institute of Technology, is the author or editor of more than 20 books and more than 200 journal articles that explore the evolution of life on our planet, the fossil record, geology and paleontology. A continuing thread in both his scholarly and popular work is the goal of communicating the wealth of evidence found in the fossil record that supports evolution.

In his latest book, “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters” (Columbia University Press, 2007), Prothero explains how rich the fossil record has become. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the “monkey business of creationism,” Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution.

Prothero’s other books include “Evolution of the Earth” (McGraw-Hill, 8th edition, in press), “After Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals” (Indiana University Press, 2006), “Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology” (McGraw-Hill, 2003) and “Earth: Portrait of a Planet” (W.W. Norton, 2001).

Prothero is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Paleontological Society and the Linnean Society of London, and has received fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Charles Schuchert Award for Outstanding Paleontologist under the age of 40, presented by the Paleontological Society.