Scientific smackdown at SFU
There will be a battle of the brains when two rival Lower Mainland university professors face off in a public debate over which great thinker influenced modern science more, Charles Darwin or Galileo Galilei.
In one corner, representing the University of British Columbia, will be zoology lecturer Greg Bole, arguing that Darwin’s 19th century theory of natural selection eclipses Galileo’s achievements. Tom Archibald, chair of mathematics at Simon Fraser University, will make the case that the 17th century Tuscan physicist, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher should take the crown.
The event is scheduled as part of Simon Fraser’s Geek Week, a cheeky celebration of science. The debate is intended to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s improvements to the telescope and related finding that the Earth is not the centre of the universe. This year is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species.
The gloves come off January 28, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at SFU’s Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences video-conferencing centre, at the Burnaby campus. The public are invited to attend the debate in person. Book a seat by contacting Stephen Price at (778) 782-5347; stephen_price@sfu.ca. The cerebral match will also be streamed to the Internet, available by clicking: www.irmacs.sfu.ca/about/live-video. For more information, see www.sfu.ca.