Eva Barreno.

Eva Barreno, emeritus professor of Botany at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Valencia, participates this Monday, November 22, in the commemorative weeks ‘Cooperation, evolutionary force’, a conference organised on the occasion of the ten years since the death of the evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, a key figure in the development of the role of symbiosis as a source of evolutionary innovation.

Lynn Margulis was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Valencia in 2001. Her work, in the 1960s, favoured the progressive acceptance of the origin of complex cells from the assembly of simpler cells. Current evolutionary theory recognises and incorporates much of the ideas that Margulis defended amid the indifference if not the rejection of most scientists of the time. Other of her scientific contributions have not been without controversy either. An example of it was her contribution from microbiology to James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis.

The event on November 22 will include the screening of the film Symbiotic Earth. How Lynn Margulis rocked the boat and started a scientific revolution and then a face-to-face debate at the Cosmocaixa headquartersin Barcelona that will also be broadcast via streaming. Also participating in this event will be Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo (Institute of Evolutionary Biology CSIC-UPF), Ricardo Guerrero (AE-Barcelona Knowledge Hub), BegoñaVendrell (Institute of Marine Sciences-CSIC) and Pere Estupinyà, journalist and scientific communicator who will moderate the act.

“The cooperation, evolutionary force. Lynn Margulis, 10 years later”are commemorative weeks of the biologist Lynn Margulis that take place between October 13 and December 3, organized by the Centre for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation, the Institute of Marine Sciences, the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the European Academy. They include conferences, exhibitions, guided tours and colloquia, among other activities.

Lynn Margulis, in 2000 and as part of the celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the University of Valencia, managed to get the American Geophysical Union to hold an international congress at the University. In addition, the academic institution published a book that collects some of her most notable contributions: Lynn Margulis, unarevoluciónen la evolución (PUV, 2002). The University of Valencià has also published, in Valencian and Spanish, the second edition of Early Life. Evolution On The Precambrian Earth.