John Wesley Powell Memorial Lectures

The John Wesley Powell Memorial Lectures were inaugurated in 1929 in honor of the distinguished geologist and leader of the first expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Each year since then, with the exception of the years during WWII when the Division did not hold meetings, SWARM has invited a distinguished scholar to deliver a lecture at the Annual Meeting on a subject of his or her choosing. An attempt has always been made to select speakers who represent as wide a diversity of scientific endeavor as possible. Some of the previous Powell lecturers have included Oliver Sacks (2000), Holmes Rolston III (1998), Carl Sagan (1992), Lawrence Slobodin (1987), Paul S. Martin (1978), Eugene Odum (1968), A.H. Compton (1939), Otto Struve (1934) and Aldo Leopold (1933).

The Powell Fund was established in 1958 with Division funds that had accrued during the war years. For many years the interest from this fund was sufficient to finance an honorarium and expenses for the invited speaker. Due to increased expenses and in the amounts provided to speakers along with lowered interest rates, the interest is no longer sufficient to maintain the fund. The Division is asking for your help in augmenting the Powell Fund to a level where the interest can, once again, support the cost required to maintain the high quality of the Powell Lecture.

Suggestions for future Powell Lecturers are always welcome and can be sent to the Executive Director.

2009 JOHN WESLEY POWELL MEMORIAL LECTURE

What Is Life?
An Ancient Question Meets Twenty-First Century Science

By Carl Zimmer

Sunday, March 29, 2009
7:30 p.m.
Great Hall A
Allen Chapman Activity Center
University of Tulsa

We all know in our bones what it means to be alive, but a firm definition of life has eluded philosophers and scientists for centuries. Today, biologists can probe the nature of life in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. They can tinker with genes, build new kinds of DNA, and are on the verge of manufacturing new species. In my talk, I will discuss what the twenty-first century promises to reveal about biology's deepest question.

Sponsored by the:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division
and
The University of Tulsa

Carl Zimmer

The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer "as fine a science essayist as we have." In his books, essays, articles, and blog posts, Zimmer reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. He is a frequent guest on radio programs, such as Fresh Air and This American Life. He also lectures at universities, medical schools, and museums.

Zimmer's books include Soul Made Flesh, a history of the brain, which was named one of the top 100 books of 2004 by The New York Times Book Review, and dubbed a "tour-de-force" by The Sunday Telegraph. His book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea--"as fine a book as one will find on the subject" according to Scientific American--has recently been reissued with a new introduction. His other books include At the Water's Edge, a book about major transitions in the history of life; The Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins; and Parasite Rex, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a book capable of changing how we see the world."

Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life, Zimmer's latest book, was published in May 2008 by Pantheon. In this unnatural history of this astonishingly complex germ Zimmer reflects on the nature of life itself. Publisher's Weekly has praised the book: "Written in elegant, often poetic prose, Zimmer's well-crafted exploration should be required reading for all well-educated readers."

In addition to writing books, Zimmer contributes articles to the New York Times, as well as magazines including National Geographic, Discover, Scientific American, Science, and Popular Science. He also writes an award-winning blog, The Loom. From 1994 to 1998 Zimmer was a senior editor at Discover, where he remains a contributing editor.
Zimmer's work has been anthologized in both The Best American Science Writing series and The Best American Science and Nature Writing series. He has won fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. His honors include the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Science Journalism Award, the Pan-American Health Organization Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting, the American Institute Biological Sciences Media Award, and the Everett Clark Award for science writing. In 2007 he was awarded the National Academies Science Communication Award for "his diverse and consistently interesting coverage of evolution and unexpected biology."
Zimmer lives in Connecticut with his wife Grace and his children, Charlotte and Veronica.