Athens, Ga. – Darwin Days, a yearly celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution through natural selection is the foundation of modern biology, will be held on the University of Georgia campus Feb. 8-12.
The birthday of Darwin on Feb. 12 is the reason for the events. This year there will be a series of events exploring the fossil record of pre-human life.
Alaskan artist Ray Troll, author of Rapture of the Deep, will be a major guest for the celebration. A scientific illustrator, Troll will speak on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 4 p.m. in the Odum School of Ecology Auditorium. His illustrated lecture is entitled, “Vicious Fishes of the Amazon.” He will give another talk, “Fish Worship,” in the same venue at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Both events are free and open to the public.
On Feb. 11, Prof. Sally Walker from the department of geology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will display her collection of fossils of predators and their prey in an exhibit titled “Fossil Forensics: Predators in Paleontology.” There also will be a display by Raymond Freeman-Lynde, also of geology, called “T. Rex Wanna Cracker?” Both will be in the first floor rotunda of the Miller Learning Center.
At 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 11, anthropologist John Hawks from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will speak in the Reception Hall of the Tate Center. His lecture is called “The Neanderthal Genome Project” and is open free as well. Following Hawk’s lecture there will be a panel composed of Doug Menke (genetics), Dorothy Fragaszy (psychology), and Susan Tanner (anthropology) called “What Does It Mean to Be Human?”
For other events see the Darwin Days website at http://www.darwinday.uga.edu/.
The events are co-sponsored by the department of cellular biology and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, along with the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the Odum School of Ecology, Georgia Museum of Natural History and the departments of geology, psychology and anthropology.
