The Survival Curve: A 220-Year Story of Scientific Wonder

LINK TO ZOOM MEETING:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88384219320?pwd=dlR1WHpBM1JJT2ZXdmE5dSthRWp1UT09https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88384219320?pwd=dlR1WHpBM1JJT2ZXdmE5dSthRWp1UT09

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Before 1800, half of all humans born died before their fifth birthday. Then came a revolution in survival—spurred by breakthroughs such as vaccination, clean water, antiseptics, and antibiotics—that turned medicine from “bleeding and purging” into an evidence-based system of care that actually saves (and vastly improves) human lives.

Today, it’s easy to forget how recent and hard-won these advances are. Join us tonight as CFI Education Director Bertha Vazquez reveals how scientists and innovators such as John Snow, Ignaz Semmelweis, Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur, Norman Borlaug, and Nils Bohlin gave humanity an extraordinary gift: longer, healthier lives. This talk is both a celebration of science and a reminder to be grateful for the discoveries—and the people—that laid the foundation making modern life possible.

MEET THE SPEAKER: Bertha Vazquez taught middle school science in Miami-Dade County Public Schools for thirty-four years. As a teacher, she was named Miami-Dade County’s Science Teacher of the Year three times and was the recipient of several national and local honors, including the Charles C. Bartlett National Excellence in Environmental Award, the NABT‘s 2017 Evolution Education Award, and NCSE’s 2023 Friend of Darwin award. Vazquez is now the education director at the Center for Inquiry. Her books include On Teaching Evolution (2021) and What Teachers Want to Know About Teaching Climate Change (2025).

FURTHER ZOOM LOGIN INFO:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88384219320?pwd=dlR1WHpBM1JJT2ZXdmE5dSthRWp1UT09
DIAL-IN PHONE NUMBER: 305-224-1968
MEETING ID: 883 8421 9320
PASSCODE: 765292