SCIENTIST STEPHEN JAY GOULD TO SPEAK AT KU
LAWRENCE -- One of the country's best-known scientists is scheduled to speak at the University of Kansas next week.
Noted philosopher, geologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould will address the cultural and historical biases shaping the approaching millennial turnover when he delivers his lecture, "Questioning the Millennium: Why We Can't Predict the Future," at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, at
the Lied Center.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will immediately be followed by a question-and-answer session, said Janet Crow, executive director of the Hall Center for the Humanities.
Gould, a professor of geology at both Harvard and New York universities, will discuss several issues he addressed in his book, "Questioning the Millennium," including the assumption within Western civilization that the entire world will recognize the new millennium. He also will address the concept of zero in the Western calendar and whether or not the year 2000 or 2001 will mark the beginning of the turnover.
Gould, however, is perhaps best known for his revolutionary theories on evolution. In 1972, he collaborated on a ground-breaking paper with paleontologist Niles Eldredge in which they concluded that evolution was not a slow, gradual and continuous process, but rather one of "punctuated equilibrium" in which species evolved relatively quickly on the scale of geological time. Since that paper made waves in the scientific community, Gould has been a strong proponent of rethinking the evolutionary process. In his latest book, "Rock of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life," he asserts that there need not be any antagonism between the two fields.
Crow said the lecture was scheduled a year ago and was a coincidence in light of the Kansas Board of Education's recent decision to remove evolution from its required curriculum. Still, she said she would not be surprised if the issue were to come up during the question-and-answer session.
"It's really creating a lot of excitement on campus," she said. "The phones are ringing off the hook."
Gould, who has had numerous honors and distinctions bestowed upon him, was one of the first recipients of a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, also known as "genius grants." His 1982 book, "The Mismeasure of Man," which criticized the scientific legitimacy of many methods of measuring IQ, won the National Book Critic's Award for nonfiction. He sat on the NASA space exploration council, and he was recently named the president of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.
Contact: Ranjit Arab, (785) 864-3256
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