Simon Conway Morris at the Royal Tyrell Museum 07-08-09

Simon Conway Morris, from the University of Cambridge, England, will give a free public lecture at the Royal Tyrrell Museum on Friday, August 7, 2009.

In a talk entitled “Darwin's Compass: Why the evolution of humans is inevitable,” Conway Morris will present his argument that evolution has a limited number of “solutions” to particular “needs,” as demonstrated by the numerous cases of parallel evolution observed among living organisms. This argument suggests that evolution is not random, but follows guiding principles, a point of view that leaves room for both science and religion in the study of evolution.

Simon Conway Morris holds an ad hominem chair in Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of Cambridge. As a palaeontologist, he is renowned for his insights into evolution and is a leading authority on the Burgess Shale fauna, the rise of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian Explosion, and the topic of evolutionary convergence.

This talk concludes the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s 2009 Speaker Series dedicated to naturalist Charles Darwin.

Admission to the talk is free, however, to visit the galleries regular Museum rates apply.