Journalists invited to Darwin/Chicago 2009 conference Oct. 29-31

The University of Chicago will host a conference celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, the 150th anniversary of The Origin of Species and the 50th anniversary of the scientifically influential 1959 Darwin conference at Chicago, from Thursday, Oct. 29 to Saturday, Oct. 31.

Organized by the University's Fishbein Center for the History of Science, Darwin/Chicago 2009 will feature presentations from biologists, anthropologists, historians and philosophers. Speakers and their topics will include:

• Ronald Numbers, University of Wisconsin, Madison, "Anti-Evolutionism in America: Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design"
  
• Marc Hauser, Harvard University, "Where Do Morals Come From? NOT Religion!"
  
• Peter and Rosemary Grant, Princeton University, "Evolution of Darwin's Finches"
  
• Janet Browne, Harvard University, "Looking at Darwin: Making a Celebrity through Portraits and Images"
  
• Robert J. Richards, University of Chicago, "Darwin's Moral Reconstruction of Nature"
  
• John Hedley Brooke, University of Durham, "'God knows what the public will think': Darwin and the Religious Response to the Origin of Species"
  
• Neil Shubin, University of Chicago, "Using Fossils and Genes to Understand Anatomical Evolution"
  
• Eugenie Scott, National Center for Science Education, "What Would Darwin Say to Today's Creationists?"
  
• Michael Ruse, Florida State University, "Is Darwinism Past Its 'Sell-by' Date? The Challenge of Evo-Devo"

Source: University of Chicago