Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Larson will speak about Darwinism and the Dayton, Tenn. Scopes trial tonight at 7 in the Michael D. Rose Theatre on campus, with a reception at 6.
The lecture, titled "Dayton to Dover: Darwinism on Trial, Then and Now," is based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion.
Called "The Trial of the Century," the Scopes trial pitted science against religion, allowing evolutionists and creationists to debate their views in a legal forum. Larson's lecture will cut through the theatrics and show the importance of the issue then and now.
Larson, the author of five books on evolution, has appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Rachel Maddow Show," and in several documentaries.He is one of the nation's experts on debates about teaching evolution in schools whose articles have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The Wilson Quarterly, among others.
The Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University, Larson retains a professorial appointment at the University of Georgia, where he has taught for 20 years. He received his law degree from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities at The University of Memphis sponsored the event, along with the history and biology departments.
