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LAWRENCE -- The 2002-03 Hall Center for the Humanities Lecture Series opens Thursday, Oct. 24, with Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies." The lecture, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center, is free and open to the public.
Diamond, professor of physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, will uncover the history of human society in light of the evolution of writing, germs, technology, government and religion -- all of which, he says, are not the ultimate explanation as to why Eurasian society has dominated other cultures for so long. Diamond's theories include a definitive refutation of racism and revolutionary ideas about the fate of societies whose resources are fading due to the current population explosion and the advancement of technology.
Diamond has received the MacArthur Foundation fellowship, also known as the "Genius Award," in addition to research prizes from the American Physiological Society, National Geographic Society, the Zoological Society of San Diego, and numerous teaching awards and endowed public lectureships.
He has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.
In addition to winning the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" received Britain's 1998 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize. In addition, it was hailed as the best science book of 1997 by Phi Beta Kappa.
Diamond's field research includes 17 expeditions to New Guinea and neighboring islands to study ecology and evolution of birds. As a conservationist, he devised a comprehensive plan for Indonesian New Guinea's national park system; worked on numerous field projects for the Indonesian government and World Wildlife Fund; was a founding member of the board of the Society of Conservation Biology; and was a member of the board of directors of the World Wildlife Fund/USA.
From 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25, Diamond will hold a colloquium titled "A Conversation with Jared Diamond" in the Summerfield Room of the Adams Alumni Center. Please contact the Hall Center for the Humanities, (785) 864-7822 or hallcenter@ku.edu, for more information.
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