Article published by Fernando Gonzalez Candelas in Las Provincias
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V Memorial Peregrín Casanova of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology
Rosemary and Peter Grant
Princeton University
Evolution of Darwin's Finches
B. Rosemary Grant is researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and Peter R. Grant is
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professor of Zoology at Princeton University. They have recently published the book ‘’ How and why species multiply: The radiation of Darwin’s finches (Princeton University Press, 2008)’’.
Charles Darwin’s observations in the Galapagos Islands in 1835 guided his thoughts on a revolutionary theory: species are not fixed but have diversified from their ancestors over many generations and the main mechanism of evolutionary change in natural selection.
For thirty-four years, Rosemary and Peter Grant have studied the evolution of Galapos finches through observations and experiments with birds in the field, especially on Major Daphne Isla, and in the laboratory with the experimental methods of molecular genetics and developmental biology. His unique observations of Darwin’s finches are fundamental for reconstructing the evolutionary of the fourteen species from a common ancestor three million years ago.
Mermorial Peregrín Casanova is organised by Canavilles institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology and the Chair of Dissemination of Science of the Universitat de València, sponsored by the CAM, the Catalan Society of Biology and the Institut of Catalan Studies.
Peregrín Casanova Ciurana (1849-1919) was professor of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universitat de València, introducer of evolutionist ideas and organiser of the tribute to Darwin to the assembly hall of the Universitat de València in 1909. The previous Memorial speakers were: Stanley L. Miller (2003), David M. Hillis (2005), Francisco J. Ayala (2007) and José Luis Sanz (2008).
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Time: 19.00 p.m.
Place: Joan Plaça Auditorium, Botanical Garden
IV Morning of Evaluation
Updating day for Secondary and baccalaureate teachers
Date: Saturday 16 May 2009
Time: 12.30 p.m.
Place: Joan Plaça Auditorium
Botanical Garden Universitat de València
Registration:
From 21 April to 11 May
(program)
Organized and sponsored by:
Delegation for University Integration, UV
Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, UV
Faculty of Biological Sciences, UV
Botanical Garden, UV
Catalan Society of Biology and the Institut of Catalan Studies.
With the collaboration of:
Chair for Scientific Dissemination, UV
Education Unit at the Jardín Botánico, UV
Publications of the Universitat de València
Métode, UV
Conferences:
Lamarck in teaching the theory of evolution
Taking advantage of the fact that 2009 also marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Lamarck’s Philosophie Zoologique, I would like to refer to some aspects of how and his evolutionary theories are treated in secondary school text books. I will refer to the most significative texts of Lamrck’s scientific work and his evolutionary model, I will analyse the main errors in relation to the presentation of Lamarck’s scientific work as well as his evolutionary theory, and explain how Lamarck’s treatment has changed in secondary textbooks over the past 30 years.
Agustí Camós Cabeceran holds a degree in biology, a master's degree in the history of science and a doctorate from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Professor of biology and geology at secondary school, he has been professor of history of biology at the Faculty of Biology at the UAB. His research focuses on the study of natural history and life sciences in Cataluña and Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries, on which he has published several articles and book chapters. He has written the introduction, the translation into catalan and the notes of Lamarck's Zoological Philosophy.
Difficulties in learning about evolution: answers from research in didactics of biology
The famous title of Th. Dobzhansky's 1973 article, today's aphorism. In biology nothing makes sense if it is not in the light of evolution, has been shown over time to be increasingly accurate. Extraordinary advances in diverse areas, especially in molecular and developmental biology, have transformed evolutionary biology into a complex and interdisciplinary science that requires in-depth knowledge of many areas, something that is often beyond the reach of most specialized professionals, including those who are dedicated to facilitating their learning: teachers. The didactics of biology addresses this problem, and some of its research results provide some of that light claimed by Dobzhansky.
Óscar Barberá studied biochemistry at the Universitat de València and earned his doctorate there with a thesis in chemo-xonomy of the genus Artemisia L. Since 1987 he has been a member of the Department of Didactics of Science at the same university, where he dedicates himself to the didactics of biology both in the training of teachers and in research. She has published works in journals such as The American Biology Teacher, Science Education, Enseñanza de las Ciencias or Revista de Educación. He currently directs the School of Teaching at the University of Valencia.
Between science and faith. The religious thought of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin left his autobiography unpublished. It is a text that explains the life of the scientist, according to what seems to be exclusively family use, but where he shows us as frank and incisive as in his other scientific writings. Therefore, it is an excellent document to know first hand his biography, the perception of his successes, the anguish produced by his books, and many other capital details of his life. Among them his religious thoughts. Even so, at the time the autobiography was published, five years after his death, Francis Darwin decided to carry out a long series of corrections and suppressions, under the firm supervision of a healthy mother, Emma Wedgwood. The omissions are mostly religious: the uncensored autobiography shows us a much more combative and intolerant Darwin against religion. A Darwin more atheistic than agnostic, which is how he has gone down in history.
Martí Domínguez is a writer and columnist. Doctor in Biology, lecturer in Journalism at the University of Valencia and director of the journal Método. He writes for different media, such as El Temps, La Vanguardia and El País. Part of his articles are collected in the compilations "Peiximinuti" and "Bestiario". As a novelist, he is the author of "Las confidencias del conde de Buffon", winner of the Pulses Trasto, Crexells and Crítica de la Universitat de València; "El secreto de Goethe", Prudenci Bertrana and Crítica de la Universitat de València prizes, and finally "El regreso de Voltaire", which received the Josep Pla prize. He has also been awarded the National Journalism Prize for his work as director of Método.
Lamarck and the evolution of species
By Agustí Camós Cabeceran
By Agustí Camós Cabeceran. In this “year of the evolution”, it also celebrates the two hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Philosophie Zoologique of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. To this end, it is convenient to talk about Lamarck contribution to the development of the evolutionary theories, and what has been recently denominated the Darwinian revolution. Some important aspects of Lamarck's life and scientific work are presented, as well as the genesis of his theory of evolution and its development, and the influence of the Lamarck ideas in Europe and especially at the Spain.
Agustí Camós Cabeceran graduated in Biology, received his PhD by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is a magister in science history. He is a full university professor of biology and geology of secondary education, and he has been a history of the biology teacher at the Faculty of Biology of the UAB. His research focuses on the study of natural history and sciences of life in Catalonia and Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries, about he has published some articles and book chapters. He has written the introduction, Catalan translation and the notes of the Filosofia zoològica de Lamarck (Clàssics de la Ciència 8, IEC/Pòrtic/Eumo, 2007).
With the support of the Societat Catala de Biologia and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
23/04/2009
Lynn Margulis in Valencia on the occasion of the Year of Darwin.
02/04/2009
Rounded table at the Spanish School in Paris
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Speakers:
Pierrer-Enri Gouyon (biologist, National Museum of Natural History, Paris)
Victor Navarro Brotóns (Science historian, Universitat de València
Moderation: Purificación López-García (Univ. Paris-Sur)
With the collaboration of the Chair for Science Dissemination (Universitat de València)
Interviendront
Pierre-Henri Gouyon (biologiste, Muséum de Histoire naturelle de Paris)
Victor Navarro-Brotóns (Historian des Sciences, Université de Valencia).
Modération : Purificación López-García (Univ. Paris-Sur).
Avec la collaboration de la Cátedra de Divulgación de la Ciencia (Université de Valencia)
More information: Spanish school in Paris
Darwin's bicentenary
The Universitat de València inaugurates the exposition “Darwin. His time, his work and his influence” at the Palau de Cerveró.
Darwin. His time, his work and his influence is the title of the exposition organised and produced by the Universitat de València and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) with the objective of celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of someone who, maybe, has been the most influential naturalist of all times, Charles R. Darwin (1809-1882). The exhibit, at the Palau de Cerveró of Valencia until 15th September, profiles the figure, personality and Darwin’s work in the wide and scientific historic context of his time. At the same time, it also intends to recall the tribute that medicine students of this academic entity paid to Darwin in 1909, led by the most active Valencian evolutionism disseminator, the Full University Professor of Anatomy Peregrí Casanova (1849-1919). This act, celebrated at the Main Hall the 22nd February 1909, was the only academic one organised with this reason in Spain and that reveals that Valencia was key in the reception of Darwinism.
18/02/2009
Richard Dawkins, honorary doctor by the Universitat de València.
Richard Dawkins, one of the main disseminators of the evolutionism theory and author of the worldwide best-sellers “The Selfish Gene” and “The God Delusion”, will be conferred an honorary doctorate by the Universitat de València. The Governing Council of the institution has decided it that way, and it has also decided to confer Avelino Corma, internationally recognised by his contributions to technology of materials; and to André Constando Van Steirteghem, author of revolutionary investigations in the field of male sterility and the human assisted reproduction.
The Dawkins investiture has been approved due to the proposal of the Dean, Francisco Tomás. The decision is framed between the acts of commemoration of Darwin’s bicentenary (during 2009) and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “The Origin of the Species”. Richard Dawkins is a professor of Public Understanding of Science of the Oxford University. It must be highlighted that in 1909, the Universitat de València was one of the few European academic institutions that paid tribute to Charles Darwin in the centenary of his birth.
Richard Dawkins (Kenia, 1941) studied in the Oxford University, where he did his doctorate under the direction of the ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen (Nobel Prize of physiology or medicine in 1973). He has taught zoology classes at the Unoversity of California (Berkeley) and at Oxford. Since 1995, he is Fellow of New College and occupies the Charles Simonyi’s Chair for the public understanding of science. In 1997, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2001 of the Royal Society.
Professor Dawkins is the author of almost a hundred articles in scientific magazines of diverse areas such as ethology, neuroscience, sociology and philosophy. Dawkins is also the author of a dozen of scientific dissemination books, most of them are about biological evolution. “The Selfish Gene” (1976), his first book, has been translated into the main languages and is considered the best book of scientific dissemination of the 20th century. His most recent book, “The God Delusion” (2006), has become an international best-seller and has been translated into 45 languages.
Besides his work as writer and scientist, Dawkins has distinguished by his brilliant and passionate defence of science and rationalism. Richard Dawkins has carried out an extraordinary task promoting the evolutionary thinking.
Avelino Corma (Moncofa, 1951) studied Chemistry at the Universitat de València, and since 1990 he manages the Instituto de Tecnologia Química, mixed centre of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas of the Universitat Politècnica de València. Professor Corma is globally recognized as one of the most prolific and versatile contributors to science and technology of materials, as well as to the heterogeneous catalysis. From the industrial point of view, he has contributed particularly to the discovery and the commercialization of new catalysts to the isomerization of the light naphtha. Corma has published about 750 articles in international magazines and he is the author of three books.
By his part, André Constando Van Steirteghem is the author of revolutionary investigations in the field of the treatment of male sterility and the diagnosis of monogenic diseases in human embryos that has avoided the hereditary transmission of very serious diseases. Moreover, in the human assisted reproduction field, Van Steirteghem leads the leader group in the idea of transferring one embryo to the uterus, that has allowed the disappearance of multiple gestations.
Richard Dawkin Discourse
Richard Dawkins Laudatio
Dean Discourse
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