Seminar on 'Darwin's Mad Dream: What Error and Invention Tell Us about How Science Works' Tomorrow

The U of A's William F. McComas will give a virtual seminar titled, "Darwin's Mad Dream: What Error and Invention Tell Us about How Science Works" on Zoom from 3:30-4:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 29. This talk is part of the Department of Biological Science's seminar series and is free and open to the public.

Darwin was one of the most productive, intuitive and brilliant biologists of all time, but he was not always correct. This talk will focus on two of Darwin's errors, including his "Mad Dream" of pangenesis, an idea he proposed to describe the rules of inheritance and explain variation. The central thesis of this talk is that by exploring even errors made by scientists, it is possible to learn much about the development of ideas, the progress of science and even gain a rare glimpse into scientists' thinking and personality.

William F. McComas is a Distinguished Professor and inaugural holder of the Parks Family Professorship in Science Education at the U of A. He is editor of the new book Nature of Science in Science Instruction and the journal The American Biology Teacher. His interests are in the challenges of evolution education and the incorporation of history and philosophy of science in science teaching.  

To attend the seminar, please visit the Zoom link.

Meeting ID: 893 6659 8329

Passcode: Bisc-F2020