2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

SARTON LECTURE: Paul Farber: Darwinian Evolution and Human Race

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Modern Life Sciences, Intellectual History, Oregon State University Dr. Paul Farber’s background in zoology and active interest in ornithology led him to the study of the naturalist tradition from the early 18th century through the 20th century, with emphasis on the development of systematic methods for cataloging and analyzing the natural world. He also began research into evolutionary ethics and the results of biological evolution on the shaping of philosophy and psychology. This work eventually resulted in the publication of Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from Linnaeus to E.O. Wilson and The Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics. In addition to his research and administrative duties, Farber took an active role in organizing publications and events for the history of science community, serving as an editor and contributor for several journals including the Journal of the History of Biology and Endeavour. He is a past vice-president and president of the History of Science Society and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Farber has published more than three dozen books, articles, and reviews and received honors and awards from Oregon State University, the Phi Alpha Phi Honor Society, and the History of Science Society. He currently studies the evolution of scientific thought, with an emphasis on race-mixing in the United States as a social and scientific phenomenon. In 2011, he published From Scientific Racism to Modern Evolutionary Ideas.