Imagine that phrenology, the 19th-century study of mind by measuring bumps on people’s heads, had turned out to be true? Or that Darwin hadn’t been invited to go on the voyage of the Beagle? Or that the luminiferous ether had turned out to actually exist? Now imagine historians in discussion with stand-up comedians on these subjects, and you have “What If…?†Join moderator Anne Harrington and guests Andrew Berry, David Jones, Roberto Lalli and comedians Kevin Harrington, Raj Sivaraman, and Rob Crean as they improvise alternative histories of science, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge on Friday, April 20, beginning at 7 pm. Free and open to the public. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Part of the Cambridge Science Festival. Kudos to www.triggerandfreewheel.com for the fabulous comic below.
Tag: Harvard Museum Of Natural History
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Tuesday, April 3, 6:00 pm – Learning From Insects: How Our World is Shaped by Bees, Ants, and Other Social Insects
Discover why many of the world’s top scientists have devoted their careers to the study of social insects in Learning From Insects: How Our World is Shaped by Bees, Ants, and Other Social Insects, a dialogue and booksigning with Thomas Seeley, Biology Professor at Cornell, and Bernd Heinrich, Profession Emeritus at the University of Vermont, on Tuesday, April 3, at 6:00 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge. Moderated by Professor Naomi Pierce, Curator of Lepidoptera in the MCZ at Harvard. The speakers will discuss their research and why it’s critical that we study and learn from insects.
Following the presentation, there will be reception and book signing in the Museum’s galleries. Cosponsored with Harvard University Press. Free and open to the public. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
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Tuesday, March 13 – Margaret Pokorny to Receive Park Partners Award
Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department will present the first annual Park Partners Award to Margaret Pokorny of the Back Bay during the Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party at the Seaport World Trade Center on Tuesday, March 13. The Park Partners Award recognizes Boston citizens who make a significant contribution to beautification and the city’s parks.
A longtime advocate for protecting the natural resources in her neighborhood, Margaret Pokorny has worked closely with residents and city officials to beautify Commonwealth Avenue Mall since she first moved to Back Bay in 1980. She was instrumental in efforts to revive the turf along the Mall, supported the creation of the Women’s Memorial, and has been active in fundraising and caring for trees along the Commonwealth Avenue.
“Margaret has gone above and beyond in order to preserve the quality of life in the neighborhood by advocating for policies which protect trees and encourage use of Commonwealth Avenue Mall by residents and visitors,†Mayor Menino said. “She is vigilant about engaging her neighbors to help water, replace, and protect trees, especially the Dutch elm population. She is always gracious, honest, and direct. The city is lucky to have such an advocate for our green space.â€
A hands-on booster for Boston’s parks, Pokorny’s personal slogan is “Born to Prune.†Her in-depth knowledge of her neighborhood parks was evident in her final thesis in the Radcliffe Seminars program in Landscape Design in 1992: a history and master plan for Commonwealth Avenue Mall. She was mentored in the project by her friend and neighbor, the late Stella Trafford, known as the Grande Dame of Boston parks for her own involvement with Commonwealth Avenue Mall, the Public Garden, and Boston Common.
Pokorny worked with Trafford on issues related to the Mall, and became an active member of the Board of the Friends of Copley Square, the Friends of the Public Garden, and the Board of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. She also served as Co-President of the Garden Club of the Back Bay and joined the Board of The Esplanade Association when it was founded in 2000. Margaret has also received the Boston Bowl from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America.
Tickets are still available for the March 13 Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the eve of the 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show which opens to the public on March 14. In addition to the award presentation, Dr. Gustavo Romero will speak about the Glass Flowers Collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and gardening expert Patti “Garden Girl†Moreno will give a talk on Urban Sustainable Living and the five things everyone can do to live more sustainably in the city.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Parks Department at (617) 635-4032 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks/ttd/flowershow.asp.
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Thursday, March 8, 6:00 pm – A Great Green Cloud: The Rise and Fall of the City Elms
Decades before Olmsted parks, Yankee villagers planted elm trees on their streets and commons to forge a union of rus and urbe, i.e. the rustic and the urban. The trees brought about “a kind of compromise between town and country,†observed Charles Dickens, as if each had met the other halfway and shaken hands upon it. The result was that lost masterpiece of American urbanism, “Elm Street.†Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the University of North Carolina, will explore elm culture in the U.S., and how our love affair with this giant nearly brought it to the edge of disappearance, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s New Directions in EcoPlanning Annual Lecture on Thursday, March 8, beginning at 6 pm . Reception to follow, free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Supported by a gift from Michael Dyett (AB ’68, MRP ’72) and Heidi Richardson.
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Wednesday, February 1, 6:00 pm – The Origin of Cellular Life
The amazing diversity of life is a result of billions of years of evolution. But how did the process of evolution begin? Nobel Prize winner Jack Szostak, a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, will describe how efforts to design and build very simple living cells are testing our assumptions about the nature of life, generating ideas about how life emerged from the chemistry of early Earth, and offering clues as to how modern life evolved from its earliest ancestors. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series at The Harvard Museum of Natural History. Supported by a gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
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Wednesday, January 18, 6:00 pm – Strange New Worlds: From Meteorites in Antarctica to the Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System
Renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana, University of Toronto and current Radcliffe Institute fellow, will give a lively talk on cutting-edge science of today’s planet hunters, the prospects for discovering alien life, and the debate and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, January 18, beginning at 6 pm. Jayawardhana will also discuss his recent travels to the frigid ice of Antarctica where he went to look for meteorites—and found them. Following the talk, he will sign copies of his recent book, Strange New Worlds. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. For directions, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
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Friday, December 2, 4:00 pm – Ghost Orchids
In this sculpture display in the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s Glass Flowers gallery, Scottish artist Siobhan Healy creates a subtle and thought-provoking piece inspired by the Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum), a rare British wild flower recently rediscovered after it was thought to be extinct for 23 years. Healy depicts the orchid in transient and ethereal clear glass, encouraging the viewer to reflect on the potential loss of this fragile species—an evocative emblem of the one in five of wild flowers that are threatened with extinction. This artist talk will take place Friday, December 2, beginning at 4 pm. Free with museum admission. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
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Wednesday, November 30, 6:00 pm – Relics: Travels in Nature’s Time Machine
In his newest book, Relics, world-renowned zoologist Piotr Naskrecki travels the globe to photograph “relics,†creatures or habitats that, while acted upon by evolution, remain remarkably similar to their earliest manifestations in the fossil record. From horseshoe crabs of the Atlantic to orchids of New Guinea, Naskrecki has created a time-lapse tour of life that has persisted nearly untouched for hundreds of millions of years. This lecture and booksigning will be held on Wednesday, November 30, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.
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Sunday, November 20, 4:00 pm – The Species Seekers
Science writer/NPR commentator Richard Conniff tells the story of the bold and colorful adventurers who risked death to discover strange life-forms in the farthest corners of planet Earth. The lecture will take place Sunday, November 20, beginning at 4 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Mr. Conniff will sign copies of his most recent book, The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth.
Learn about daredevil species seekers, ranging from the father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linneaus, and Thomas Jefferson, who laid out mastodon bones on the White House floor, to the Harvard anatomist who helped introduce the world to the most spectacular species discovery of the nineteenth century. For more information, call 617-495-3045, or visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
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Saturdays, November 5, 12, 19, and December 3, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Art of Botanical Drawing
Explore the beauty and variety of plant forms using pencil, paper, watercolor, and colored pencil during adult drawing classes at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Taught by artist and educator, Erica Beade, this four-week course will introduce botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening, shading and color. All skill levels are welcome. The four-week series meets November 5, 12, 19 and December 3, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am in the Harvard Museum of Natural History. (Please note: There will be no class on November 26.) $140 non-members; $126 members (10% discount) Class sizes are limited and advance registration is required. Call 617.495.2341 or email reservations@hmnh.harvard.edu. Payment confirms registration. You may cancel up to two weeks before class and receive a refund less a $30 fee. After that time, no refunds can be made. A full refund is issued if the Museum cancels the program.
