Symposium, films and discussions set
Great Minds: A Celebration of Charles Darwin’s and Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Birthdays is set for Wednesday, Feb. 11 through Tuesday, Feb. 17 at the University of New Mexico. The celebration begins on Wednesday, Feb. 11 from 1-5:30 p.m. with a symposium on Darwin’s Legacy, scheduled in George Pearl Hall room 101A. A poster presentation and reception will follow.
For a detailed schedule of events for Wednesday, Feb. 11 visit: Darwin's Legacy; a symposium in honor of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday
On Thursday, Feb. 12, the actual 200th birthday for both illustrious figures, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is the site for the Ancestors Exhibit Gallery Talk from 10-11 a.m. Following, at 11 a.m., in the Student Union Building atrium, the 200th birthday party kickoff celebration for Lincoln and Darwin takes place.
From 1:30-3:30 p.m., the Earth & Planetary Sciences and Biology Department research labs host an open house. At the same time, the Paleontology and Meteorites Museums and the Museum of Southwestern Biology, hosts guided tours and refreshments.
From 2-3 p.m., the Maxwell will feature Discovery Cart Demonstrations, a presentation of skeletal models and artifacts that provide evolutionary evidence.
From 3:30-5 p.m., Distinguished Professor Geerat Vermeil presents, “The New Evolutionary Synthesis: Putting Economics Back into Darwinism,” in Anthropology 163.
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., the UNM Art Museum will present a celebration of Abraham Lincoln which will include readings of the “Emancipation Proclamation,” “Gettysburg Address” and the “Second Inaugural Address."
Join classmates and colleagues at the UNM Art Museum for:
* Dramatic readings by Kristin Loree’s Speech and Diction class of the "Emancipation Proclamation,” the “Gettysburg Address,” and the “Second Inaugural Address”
* Dr. Regina Carlow’s Dolce Suono Mixed Chorus sings “Happy Birthday”
* View a rare 1865 photograph of Lincoln in the exhibition “We the People…” Select Photographs which Celebrate Democracy
* Have a slice of Lincoln’s log cabin birthday cake
The day ends with a keynote address by David Quammen, author of The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, from 7-8 p.m. in Woodward Hall 101. Quammen is a science journalist, nonfiction author, and novelist who travels on assignment for various magazines, to jungles, deserts and swamps.
His areas of expertise are field biology, ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation, though he also writes about travel, history and outdoor sports. His work has appeared in Harper’s, National Geographic, The Atlantic, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, The New York Times Book Review, and in The Best American Science Writing 2005 and several other such collections.
He is a three-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for essays and other work. He has authored 12 books and recently published an expanded edition of his first collection of short nonfiction, Natural Acts. He currently holds the positions of Contributing Writer for National Geographic Magazine and Wallace Stegner Professor of Western American Studies at Montana State University. Quammen lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Betsy Gaines, a conservationist.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, The Voyage of The Beetle, a talk and book signing by Anne Weaver, author of a children’s book on Darwin, is set in the UNM Bookstore from noon – 1 p.m.
Screening of the film Inherit the Wind, is set for 2-4:30 p.m. in the SUB Theatre, with introductory remarks by author and film historian Frank Thompson. The film is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law that prohibited the teaching of anything besides creationism.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, the film Young Mister Lincoln will be shown in the SUB ballroom A. Thompson will present introductory remarks.
The last day of the Great Minds celebration includes a panel discussion, “Lincoln in American Life,” is set on Tuesday, Feb. 17, from 2-3:30 p.m. in Anthropology 163.
Finally, from 7-8 p.m. in Woodward Hall 101, David R. Contosta, professor of history at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, will talk about Lincoln and Darwin. He is the author of 15 books, including his most recent, "Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin." He is also the author of "Henry Adams and the American Experiment." Contosta is currently writing a screenplay set in the early 1940s.
For more information visit: Great Minds.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu