RENOWNED EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE RESEARCHER TO PRESENT LECTURE AT OTTERBEIN COLLEGE
Dr. Sean B. Carroll will discuss “Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species”
Two hundred years after Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150 years after the publication of his On the Origin of Species, scientists are studying evolution at the molecular level. Otterbein will present Dr. Sean B. Carroll, widely recognized as the leading public voice of evolutionary science in the U.S. today, to discuss foundational questions of evolutionary biology in his lecture, “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species.” The lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in Riley Auditorium in the Battelle Fine Arts Center, 170 W. Park St., Westerville. It is free and open to the public.
A fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Carroll is a much sought after speaker at venues such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum in Chicago. He is a professor of molecular biology and genetics and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin. His research has centered on the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. Major discoveries from his laboratory have been featured in TIME, US News & World Report, The New York Times, Discover and Natural History.
He is the author of three books: Remarkable Creatures (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), The Making of the Fittest (2006, W.W. Norton) and Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo (2005, W.W. Norton).
Regarding his latest book, Remarkable Creatures, Dr. Carroll states: “I like to tell stories at the intersection of natural history with molecular biology, where we can explain how some aspect of a remarkable creature evolved. The natural history of some creature is what first engages me or my audiences, but we now have the means to know not just what exists, but to understand how it came to be. That power makes for a deeper and much more complete understanding of evolution and the history of life.”
Dr. Carroll’s lecture at Otterbein coincides with the opening of the newly renovated Science Center and is the 19th Science Lecture Series. Through annual seminars, national leaders in science and technology discuss their insights about the future of scientific endeavor at Otterbein College. Past lectures have included topics such as quantum mechanics, nanotechnology, green chemistry and the origins of life. The series is sponsored by the White Science Seminar Fund and coordinated by a committee, chaired by the Office of Academic Affairs, comprised of the Science Outreach Coordinator and representatives from the Science Division.
