The scientific world is going Darwin crazy this year, with 2009 marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th year since the publication of On the Origin of Species.
Here’s a roundup of Darwin-related events around the Boston area. As I come across more, I’ll add them here. If you hear of any, please post them here as a comment.
My favorite event:
Darwin’s birthday bash, complete with a giant birthday cake (and yes, 200 candles) and a “survival of the fittest” cake-eating contest
February 11, 6pm (11pm in London), just in time to bring in Darwin’s Feb 12 birthday
775 Commonwealth Ave
January 22-24, Broad Institute
MIT Darwin Bicentennial Symposium
Program ranges from evolution of the oceans and early atmosphere to the evolution of cell division.
(Anna and I will be attending and reporting back)
January 26, 2-5pm
Evolution before Darwin
Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science
February 12, 9am-5pm
The Impact of Darwinism on the Human Sciences
Boston University Provost’s Colloquium
February 12, 6pm
Darwin at 200: Rethinking the Revolution
Harvard Museum of Natural History
February 26, 6pm
Evolution in the Post-Genomic Age
Harvard Museum of Natural History
March 5, 6pm
Survival of the Swiftest, Smartest or Fattest? Human Evolution 150 Years After Darwin
Harvard Museum of Natural History
April 3-4
The Reception of Darwinism: Trans-cultural Differences
Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science
Here are two websites for Boston-specific Darwin activities.
To find the epicenter of Darwin-mania, check out the University of Cambridge’s site, this site from the UK, and the HMS Beagle Project
Wow, and I thought the London program was packed.
Proud I am to hail from Boston, and jealous to be neither there nor in London for these events.
Phew. I’m Darwinned out already and it’s hardly begun.
Maybe I shall find a remote archipelago somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and hide under a giant tortoise until it’s all over. Any suggestions?
Corie, you MUST attend the 200-candle birthday bash and report back!
It’s in my calendar! Will of course take pictures. I wonder if anyone will dress up like Darwin?
Corie, anyone arriving as Darwin should – of course – be carrying a beagle soft toy (as in the dog breed…) – as represented in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide” movie….
I like that the calendar includes both a cake eating competition and a lecture called “Survival of the Swiftest, Smartest or Fattest? Human Evolution 150 Years After Darwin”
I vote fattest