PREEMINENT EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST AND LEAD WITNESS IN PENNSYLVANIA’S “INTELLIGENT DESIGN” COURT CASE, TO SPEAK AT BARD COLLEGE ON MONDAY, APRIL 10 The Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Continues with Kenneth R. Miller

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— It has been 80 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial, but the debate between science and religion has never been as heated as it is now. Recent efforts to introduce "intelligent design" into high school science classes will likely lead to a major Supreme Court ruling on the issue. On Monday, April 10, the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series at Bard College presents Brown University biology professor Kenneth R. Miller, one of the nation’s leading evolutionary biologists and a key witness in Pennsylvania’s “intelligent design” case that began in September 2005. Miller is the author of the acclaimed book, Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution. He is also the coauthor of three high school and college biology textbooks that are used by millions of students nationwide. His lecture, “Finding Darwin’s God,” takes place at 4:30 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. The talk is free and open to the public and is presented by Bard’s Distinguished Scientist Lecture series and First-Year Seminar Program. The Pennsylvania “intelligent design” case has been front-page news since it started. It involves a group of parents who are suing the school district for requiring high school biology teachers to read a four-paragraph statement to students that casts doubt on Darwin’s theory of evolution. The paragraphs imply that life could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand (i.e. “intelligent design”). On the witness stand, Miller noted that virtually every prominent scientific organization in the United States has upheld Darwin’s theory of evolution as an unshakeable pillar of science and that “intelligent design” is “a form of creationism.” Miller’s book, Finding Darwin’s God, is a lively and cutting-edge analysis of the key issues that seem to divide science and religion. He contends that, properly understood, evolution adds depth and meaning, not only to a strictly scientific view of the world, but also to a spiritual one. Miller is a firm believer in evolution—he is one of America's foremost experts on the subject—but he also believes in God and doesn't think the two beliefs are mutually exclusive. Miller was an undergraduate at Brown University, and earned a Ph.D. in 1974 at the University of Colorado. He spent six years as assistant professor at Harvard University before returning to Brown in 1980. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced more than 50 scientific papers and reviews in leading journals, including CELL, Nature, and Scientific American. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of three high school and college biology textbooks. He has received five major teaching awards, and currently is professor of biology at Brown. He has also appeared on PBS as a scientific commentator. He lives in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. For more information on the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series, call 845-758-7581. For more information on the First-Year Seminar Program, visit inside.bard.edu/firstyear/. # # # (3.17.06)

This event was last updated on 04-11-2006

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