GBH Darwin Day Talk: "Why Darwin Matters More Than Ever Today" by John Durant

We'll celebrate Darwin Day together on February 22 with a talk by John Durant, science educator and former director of the MIT Museum. This live lecture event is co-sponsored by Greater Boston Humanists and the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and MIT as we join to celebrate Darwin Day, a major Humanist and secular community holiday "celebrating the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin." (Darwin Day is officially Feb. 12, the learning is universal).

John Durant's lecture is titled: "Why Darwin Matters More Than Ever Today."

Darwin’s theory is ground zero for science denialism in the U.S. At a time when science denialism is at an all-time high in this country, it is useful to look back and see what lessons can be learned – from the history of public attitudes towards Darwin’s theories, and from the Great Man himself.

THE SPEAKER
John Durant was Director of the MIT Museum and Adjunct Professor in the Science, Technology and Society at MIT until he stepped down in 2023. His PhD from Cambridge University in the History of Science led to a career at the interface between academia and the community in a succession of positions in England, and then (from 2005) at MIT. His earlier research was in the history of evolutionary and behavioral biology, but he moved into research on public engagement with science after 1990. He is the founder editor of the quarterly peer review journal, Public Understanding of Science, and the author and editor of numerous books, essay collections and scholarly articles in the history and the public understanding of science.

Join us for a lecture and snacks as we celebrate together in community of secular humanism!

PARKING AND TRANSPORT
This live event is accessible by public transport to Harvard Square and street parking is free in Cambridge on Sundays. Phillips Brooks House is at the corner of Harvard Yard across from the Science Center.
(This event will be filmed for future dissemination).