Free symposium explores Evolution and Darwinism Friday, June 27, 2008
On Friday, June 27, 2008, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) invites you to join leading thinkers in Evolution and Darwinism for a fascinating one-day Darwin Symposium. Five noted experts will make 40-minute presentations on their ongoing research within their areas of expertise, with a question and answer period after each talk. This free event takes place in the Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre on Level B1 beginning at 10:30 am (Museum admission is not included. Enter through the Loblaws entrance on the south side of the building).
The Darwin Symposium is one of the many exciting lectures, courses and events offered by ROMLife. To learn more about the great programming ROMLife offers, visit
www.rom.on.ca/programs/lectures/index.
The symposium coincides with Darwin: The Evolution Revolution, the most in-depth exhibition ever assembled on the revolutionary thinker whose theory changed our understanding of the origin and nature of all species, on display at the ROM until August 4, 2008.
DARWIN SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
10:30 am - 11:30 am Michael Ruse: Has Darwinism Expired?
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Spencer Barrett: A Darwinian Perspective on the Evolution of Plant Sexual Diversity
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch Break
1:30 - 2:30 pm Rosemary and Peter Grant: Darwin's Finches
2:30 - 3:30 pm Alan Baker: Modern Darwinism: Natural Selection and Molecular Evolution
SPEAKER BIOS
Michael Ruse of Florida State University is a philosopher of science, working on the philosophy of biology, and is well known for his work on the argument between creationism and evolutionary biology. In 1986, he was elected as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen, Norway (1990), the McMaster University, Ontario, Canada (2003) and most recently the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada (2007). Ruse is a prolific author published by prestigious university presses. He founded the journal Biology and Philosophy and has published numerous books and articles.
Spencer Barrett is a professor at University of Toronto and is one of the world’s leading authorities on the reproductive biology and genetics of flowering plants. He has active research programmes in Canada, Australia, South America, and the Mediterranean, involving graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. His research involves experimental and theoretical approaches to studying evolution, ranging from molecular sequencing of genes to glasshouse and laboratory experiments and field studies.
Peter and Rosemary Grant are evolutionary biologists at Princeton University and are recipients of the 2005 Balzan Prize for Population Biology for their remarkable long-term studies demonstrating evolution in action in Galápagos finches. They have demonstrated how very rapid changes in body and beak size in response to changes in the food supply are driven by natural selection. The work of the Grants has had a seminal influence in the fields of population biology, evolution and ecology.
Allan Baker is the Senior Curator of Ornithology and Head of the Department of Natural History at the ROM. He is also a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, an Affiliate Member of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution in Massey University in New Zealand, an Associate Editor of Systematic Biology and a member of the Editorial Board of BMC Evolutionary Biology.
Darwin: The Evolution Revolution
March 8 to August 4, 2008
Supporting Sponsor:
Humanist Association of Canada
Exhibit Patrons:
The United Church Observer magazine
Blyth Academy
Friend:
ZINC Research
Darwin: The Evolution Revolution is organized by American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org) in collaboration with Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Museum of Science, Boston, The Field Museum, Chicago, Natural History Museum, London.