Boston Flora

Tag: Edward O. Wilson

  • Wednesday, February 26, 11:00 am – The Ants of New England

    Aaron Ellison , Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard University Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, will speak at The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s February meeting about his new guide book A Field Guide to the Ants of New England. Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus of Harvard University, has said “This ground-breaking field guide not only contributes to our basic knowledge of ants, but places the ants of New England within reach of those interested in the natural history of the region.” Sean Menke of Lake Forest College said “This goes beyond any ant book that has come before it and puts it in line with the popular and best bird books on the market – readable and easy to use by non-experts.”

    The meeting will take place at 11 am (members note: the meeting starts one hour later than usual) at The College Club of Boston, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. Members will receive written notice of the meeting. Free for Garden Club of the Back Bay members, $5 donation requested from nonmembers. An optional lunch will follow the meeting at a separate charge. If you are not a GCBB member but wish to attend, email info@bostonflora.com.

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4141coKAKqL._SS500_.jpg

  • Saturday, October 26, 11:00 am – 8:00 pm – Alfred Russel Wallace Day

    Although Alfred Russel Wallace co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin, he has held a relatively obscure place in the history of science. This year marks the centenary of his death and the Harvard Museum of Natural History, in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Festival, is celebrating Wallace’s rich legacy with “Wallace Day” on Saturday, October 26.  Learn more about a brilliant scientist, a heroic naturalist, and a passionate social reformer.

    Event Schedule
    11:00 am – 4:00 pm (In the galleries, free with museum admission)
    Explore the HMNH galleries and see a one-day-only display of Wallace-related specimens and objects from the Museum’s zoological collections. Come see Wallace’s spectacular birds of paradise and birdwing butterflies. At 2:00 pm
, join Alfred Russel Wallace himself (impersonated by Wallace historian and evolutionary biologist Andrew Berry) for a live presentation about his remarkable life as scientist, author, and social activist.

    Evening program (below): Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets are available by online registration only.  Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking is available after 3:00 pm in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

    4:00 pm
    Who was Alfred Russel Wallace?
    A panel discussion with: James T. Costa, Professor of Biology at Western Carolina University; John Durant, Director of the MIT Museum; James Wood, Professor of Literary Criticism at Harvard University and staff writer for The New Yorker. Moderated by Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, and acclaimed biographer of Charles Darwin.

    Parallel Lives: Edward O. Wilson & Alfred Russel Wallace
    A conversation with Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, and Andrew Berry, Wallace historian and Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University.

    The evening program will conclude with a reception in the HMNH galleries for all ticket holders.

    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2013/1/19/1358595917414/Alfred-Russell-Wallace-po-011.jpg

  • Monday – Wednesday, April 5 – 7 – Edward O. Wilson Gives Prather Lectures

    The annual John M. Prather Lectures in Biology will be presented by Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard.  Dr. Wilson is one of the world’s leading voices for conservation of global biodiversity.  He is one of the most influential and accomplished biologists of the last half-century.  He is known for his groundbreaking research on the biology and behavior of ants, as well as his celebrated work in such broad fields as island biogeography, sociobiology, and conservation biology.  He is the author of two Pulitzer Prize winning books, On Human Nature (1978), and The Ants (1990, with Bert Holldobler), as well as the recipient of many fellowships, honors and awards. Wilson’s Prather lectures will encapsulate his remarkable 55 year career in biology at Harvard, and look forward to the challenges ahead.

    Monday, April 5:  “Biodiversity and the Future of Biology.”

    Global biodiversity is richer than thought even 20 years ago, but it and the ecosystems supporting it are disappearing at an accelerating rate–to the great and enduring loss to future humanity. Science is not well prepared to handle this issue. We live on a poorly explored planet: only a tiny fraction, probably fewer than ten percent, of species are known to science, when microorganisms are included; and of these, only a minute fraction have been studied at any depth. There are remedies to this ignorance, and when they are applied, a major new front of biology will open, equal and complementary to molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

    Location: Sanders Theatre at Memorial Hall, 6:00 PM. (Reception and book signing to follow at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.) Lecture tickets are required, and can be obtained through the Harvard Box Office in Holyoke Center beginning on March 3. $10 – general public/ Free to Harvard University ID holders.

    Tuesday, April 6: “The Superorganism.”

    The study of insect societies is today one of the fastest growing major branches of evolutionary biology. It has revealed a great deal about the general principles of the origin and evolution of advanced social behavior, and has shed light on the enormous ecological success of the social insects (with ants and termites making up over half of the insect biomass around the world). The evolution from organism to superorganism has been the major transition between levels of biological organization, easiest to penetrate and understand.

    Location: Science Center, 4:00 PM. Free, advance tickets not required.

    Wednesday, April 7: “Consilience.”

    The boundary between science on one side and the humanities and humanistic social sciences on the other is not an intrinsic epistemological divide but a broad borderland of previously poorly understood causal relationships. The borderland is now being explored, and offers increasing opportunities for collaboration across three great branches of learning. A definition of human nature will be offered and examples from the borderland will be used to illustrate it.

    Location: Science Center, 4:00 PM. Free, advance tickets not required.

    For more ticket info, please call 617-496-2222, or visit the Harvard Box Office web site at http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/cal/details.php?ID=40839

    http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/jcewww/features/halspicks/HalspicksCovers/naturalist.jpg