What plays a bigger role in evolution: biology or culture? And when did the direction of evolution shift from diversification to unification?

In this highly-anticipated lecture, Dyson will demonstrate how the concept of evolution has itself evolved over the last 200 years. He’ll do this by examining the ideas of some of the biggest names in the field: Charles Darwin, Motoo Kimura, Ursula Goodenough, H. G. Wells, Richard Dawkins, and Svante Pääbo. Using the Pirandello play, Six Characters in Search of an Author as a metaphor, Dyson will explain the overarching story that these scientists’ theories have told, and how a better understanding of this can help you to become a wiser and more responsible inhabitant of our planet.

About the Speaker:

Freeman Dyson is a British-born American mathematician and theoretical physicist most famous for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy, and nuclear engineering. Revered by many as one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, Dyson’s breadth of knowledge and experience has earned him a certain celebrity status in scientific circles. Over the course of his career he has had a front-row seat for many scientific breakthroughs, and his friends and colleagues have included some of the world’s most renowned mathematicians, physicists and intellectuals of our time – like Pauli, Oppenheimer, Feynman, and Bethe. Dyson has received several honours for his pioneering contributions to science, including the Wolf Prize for Physics. Now professor emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, he continues to share his knowledge with others through public speaking engagements. He is also an active reviewer for The New York Review of Books.