Author of 'Why Evolution Is True' to give Karling lecture
April 10, 2013
Jerry A. Coyne, whose best-selling book sets out the evidence for evolution, will speak April 18 in the John S. Karling Distinguished Lectureship presented by the Department of Biological Sciences.
Coyne, a University of Chicago professor, in 2009 published "Why Evolution Is True" as a general treatment of the concepts regarding evolution and an accessible account of the facts and analyses. The book has won praise for its clarity and succinctness in dealing with a broad array of topics. In other writings such as contributions to New Republic, Coyne is active in opposing religiously based views such as creationism.
His lecture, based on the book, will begin at 3:30 p.m. in Stewart Center, Room 218. It will be preceded by a reception at 3 p.m. A book signing will follow. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President and Office of the Provost.
Coyne is a professor in the University of Chicago's Department of Ecology and Evolution, and he sits on the university's Committee on Evolutionary Biology and the Committee on Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology. His faculty member's summary says, "I work on a diverse array of topics in the areas of population and evolutionary genetics, speciation, ecological genetics, and molecular evolution." Among his scholarly works is the book "Speciation," co-authored with H. Allen Orr.
More about Coyne is on the event publicity at www.bio.purdue.edu/bionews/?p=1159 and at http://jerrycoyne.uchicago.edu/about.html.
The John S. Karling Distinguished Lectureship is named for a former professor who came to Purdue in 1948 as director of the Department of Biological Sciences, served in that role until 1959, then stepped down and became the first John Wright Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences. Karling achieved international renown as a mycologist, an authority on fungi. He was co-founder of the Mycological Society of America and of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. He retired in 1963 but continued his research for many years. Karling died in 1995.
