DARWIN IN SEVILLE 2009
Introduction
The
celebration of bicentennary of Darwin’s
birth in 2009 and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On
the Origin of Species…should represent a benchmark for the recent history
of Biology, including from purely professional aspects of the scientific community
to science popularization, paying special attention to teaching of evolution at
several educational levels. Darwin’s
contributions led to the greatest paradigm shift during the history of Biology
and one of the most prominent milestones influencing the day to day tasks of
biologists and other scientists. The famous sentence of Theodosius Dobzhansky
“nothing makes sense in Biology except in the light of evolution” has gained an
increasing significance from its very coining. Social influences have also been
intense, even greater than those of other scientific revolutions, provided that
the Darwinian theory offers rational explanations for many aspects of human
nature, as the biological species that we are. One century and a half after the
original proposal of Darwin’s
theory, the time is ripe to evaluate levels of current knowledge, in the light
of new discoveries in early 21 century, paraphrasing Dobzhansky.
We offer to the general public a series of seminars by
reputed scholars, organized in several thematic sessions on complementary
aspects of the evolutionary biology which do not intend exhaustiveness.
Providing a high level of scientific knowledge, we aim to offer a wide and
straightforward perspective on each theme, supplying information on the most
recent advances (The State of The Art), and opinions about the possible coming
pathways for widening the frontiers of evolutionary knowledge in the near
future. We pay special attention to those aspects of most social relevance, such
as the conservation of biodiversity or the evolutionary response to global
change, for which the general public is more sensitive. The ultimate aim is to
provide rigorous information in a informal environment, that generates a
constructive discussion where the public can freely participate.
