Author of Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated to Lecture
at the California Academy of Sciences April 18, 2000 7:30 pm

SAN FRANCISCO (April 3, 2000) Nearly 150 years after Darwin’s The Origin of Species was published, evolution continues to spark controversy. In his new book, Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated, Geneticist Steve Jones, called the "Carl Sagan of England," takes up the challenge of rewriting Darwin’s The Origin of Species.

Until the publication of Darwin’s book, biology was little more than a series of unconnected facts. Darwin connected those facts with his theory of evolution, which became the grammar of the living world. Darwin had only the facts of the nineteenth century to support his argument. In Darwin’s Ghost, Jones reargues Darwin’s case for evolution using the twentieth century’s astonishing advances in genetics and science. With such diverse examples as viruses, dinosaurs, cloned sheep, and dog shows, Jones discusses what Darwin meant and why we know he was right.

Steve Jones is Professor of Genetics at the Galton Laboratory at University College London and has held positions at universities in the U.S. (including the University of Chicago) Australia and Africa. His first book, The Language of Genes (1993) won the Rhone-Poulenc Prize for the Best Science Book of the Year and the Yorkshire Post Prize for Best First Work.

Tickets to the lecture are $6 for members of the Academy of Sciences; $10 for non-members. A book signing will immediately follow the lecture. Tickets may be purchased at the door. However, advance registration is recommended as lectures often sell out. To reserve tickets, call (415) 750-7128.