Celebrating the 100th anniversary of "On the Origin of Species"

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

Travelling in Australia

RELATED STORIES

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of On the Origin of Species

Ernst Mayr Scientist

		Views	Duration
121. Inviting participants to the workshop on evolutionary synthesis		143	03:28
122. The workshop on evolutionary synthesis bears fruit		96	03:34
123. Three periods in evolutionary biology		200	05:33
124. The development of new concepts in biology		169	03:56
125. A history of the basic concepts in the field of biology	1	207	01:38
126. The birth of biology		197	01:45
127. Physics envy		375	01:25
128. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of On the Origin of...		157	01:23
129. Travelling in Australia		107	01:20
130. Publishing a facsimile of the first edition of On the Origin...		188	01:48

Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

In 1959 biology celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, and also the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. On that occasion a number of celebrations were organised, the most elaborate one was in Chicago and a series of three volumes issued from the symposia and lectures and whatnot that took place on that occasion. Julian Huxley gave a… a famous speech that caused some eyebrow-raising and everybody who was anybody in evolutional biology attended. I attended it, too, on the way to Australia where in Melbourne I had to give a lecture celebrating the 100^th anniversary of The Origin of Species and simultaneously, by coincidence, the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society of Victoria.

The late German-American biologist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005) was a leading light in the field of evolutionary biology, gaining a PhD at the age of 21. He was also a tropical explorer and ornithologist who undertook an expedition to New Guinea and collected several thousand bird skins. In 1931 he accepted a curatorial position at the American Museum of Natural History. During his time at the museum, aged 37, he published his seminal work 'Systematics and Origin of the Species' which integrated the theories of Darwin and Mendel and is considered one of his greatest works.

Title: Celebrating the 100th anniversary of "On the Origin of Species"

Listeners: Walter J. Bock

Walter J. Bock is Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Columbia University. He received his B.Sc. from Cornell and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard. His research lies in the areas of organismal and evolutionary biology, with a special emphasis on functional and evolutionary morphology of the skeleto-muscular system, specifically the feeding apparatus of birds.

Tags: 1959, The Origin of Species, Chicago, Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Royal Society of Victoria, Charles Darwin, Julian Huxley

Duration: 1 minute, 24 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1997

Date story went live: 24 January 2008