"Migration" is the underlying theme of a keynote address at Syracuse University by
renowned evolutionist and author Lynn Margulis H'08. Titled "Evolution and
Symbiosis: Memoirs of Planet Earth," Margulis' lecture is Thursday, Sept. 25, at 4
p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons of E.S. Bird Library. The event is free
and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the 2008 Syracuse Symposium and
The Inaugural Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture in the Sciences and Humanities. For more
information, call (315) 443-1995.
"It is an honor and a privilege to reunite with Lynn Margulis," says Arts and Sciences
Dean George M. Langford, who previously worked with her at the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst. "Throughout her illustrious career, she has tackled some of
the most profound questions in biology and, for that matter, in all of humanity. She
is a public intellectual, a writer and a scientist who continues to make major
contributions to our understanding of the origin of life."
A Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at UMass,
Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and to the Russian
Academy of Natural Science in 1997. Her publications reflect a wide range of
scientific topics and include original contributions to micro and cell biology, and to
microbial evolution. She is most widely known as the originator of the theory of
symbiogenesis, which challenges a central tenet of neo-Darwinism. Margulis argues
that inherited variation does not come mainly from random mutations but rather
that new tissues, organs and species evolve primarily through the long-lasting
intimacy of strangers. She suggests that fusion of symbionts (organisms of different
species), followed by natural selection, leads to increasingly complex levels of
individuality.
"Although her first paper on symbiogenesis was published in the '60s, it created
fireworks that lasted for several decades. Many scientists-notably Richard Dawkins,
who is not a symbiogenesis ally-consider her research one of the crowning
achievements of 20th-century evolutionary biology," says Kameshwar C. Wali,
Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in SU's physics department.
Margulis is also acknowledged for her contributions to James E. Lovelock's Gaia
concept. Gaia theory posits that surface interactions among the Earth's living beings
and its sediment, air and water have created a vast self-regulating system.
A recent president of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, Margulis has received
numerous honors, including the National Medal of Science from President Bill
Clinton in 1999 and the Linnean Society's Darwin-Wallace Medal for "major
advances in evolutionary biology since 1958." Margulis earned a doctorate at the
University of California, Berkeley, and was awarded an honorary doctor of science
degree by SU in 2008. The Library of Congress has announced it will permanently
archive her papers.
Wali, the lecture's namesake, is internationally recognized for his scholarship in the
symmetry properties of fundamental particles and their interactions, and for his
book "Chandra: A Biography of S. Chandrasekhar," about the renowned Nobel
laureate physicist. A member of the SU faculty since 1969, Wali has held positions at
Harvard University, The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Ben-
Gurion University of Negev (Israel), Institutes des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques
(France) and the International Center for Theoretical Physics (Italy). He has been
named "Scientist of the Year" by the India Chapter of the American Physical Society,
and has received the SU Chancellor's Citation for exceptional academic achievement.
The Wali Lecture was established by his daughters, Alaka, Achala and Monona, with
help from The College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Provost, as an
expression of their admiration and gratitude for his vision, leadership and dedication
to SU and the community.
Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival about
interdisciplinary thinking, imagining, and creating, presented by The College of Arts
and Sciences for the Syracuse community. More information on lectures,
performances, exhibits and other special events is available at
http://syracusesymposium.org.
