DISTINGUISHED SCIENTIST LECTURE SERIES CONTINUES MARCH 9 WITH LEADING EVOLUTIONARY THEORIST NILES ELDREDGE Speaker is a Curator at the American Museum of Natural History and Author of The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series at Bard College presents a talk on Saturday, March 9, by Niles Eldredge, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History and a pioneer in the field of evolution. In his talk, "What Drives Evolution?" Eldredge will discuss his broad vision of how evolution works. The lecture is free and open to the public and takes place at 3 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. Refreshments will be served after the lecture.
Eldredge, who is a curator in the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, has been a leader in refining ideas on how the evolutionary process works. In 1972, with Stephen Jay Gould, he developed the theory of "punctuated equilibria," which observes that evolution tends to happen in fits and starts, compared to the slow, continuous process that Darwin described.
"For decades, Dr. Eldredge has been at the forefront of the development of our modern understanding of evolution," said Felicia Keesing, assistant professor of biology at Bard. "His ideas are always provocative and influential."
Concerned with the rapid destruction of many of the world's habitats and species, Eldredge was curator-in-chief of the American Museum's Hall of Biodiversity in 1998, and has written several books on the subject—most recently Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis. He has also been a critic of the creationist movement through lectures, articles, and books, including The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism, which was published in 2000. He is the author of numerous other books, including The Pattern of Evolution, Dominion, and Reinventing Darwin: The Great Debate at the High Table of Evolutionary Theory.
The Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series continues with a talk by Paul Ewald of Amherst College on Wednesday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. His talk is titled "Catching on to What's Catching: The Startling Scope of Infectious Disease (and Why We Have Been so Slow to Recognize It)."
All lectures are free and open to the public and take place in the Multipurpose Room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. For more information on the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series, call 845-758-7581.
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