UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PROFESSOR NAMED WINNER OF GEORGE SARTON AWARD; TO DELIVER LECTURE AT NATIONAL MEETING

Abstract

Friday, February 18, 2000

WRITER: Phil Williams, 706/542-8501, pwilliam@franklin.uga.edu

CONTACT: Ed Larson, 706/542-2660, edlarson@arches.uga.edu

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PROFESSOR NAMED WINNER OF GEORGE SARTON AWARD; TO DELIVER LECTURE AT NATIONAL MEETING

ATHENS, Ga. -- Edward Larson, a professor of history and law at the University of Georgia, has been named winner of the George Sarton award and will deliver the prestigious George Sarton Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. He will speak on Sunday, Feb. 20, at the meeting in Washington, D. C. Other speakers at the event will be noted scientist and author Stephen Jay Gould, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"It's a tremendous honor to be recognized by one's peers and also a little bit daunting to speak before such an audience," said Larson, "but it's also a great opportunity."

The George Sarton Lecture and Award are given every year at the AAAS meeting and honors a historian of science for a body of work. George Sarton is considered the originator of the field of science history. The award and lecture are sponsored by the AAAS and the History of Science Society. Earlier Sarton lecturers include Gould and Thomas Kuhn, who is best-known for his theories of societal paradigm shifts.

Larson was winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book Summer for the Gods. His book chronicled the events of the famous Scopes Trial, which pitted famed lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan against each other in a legal debate over teaching the theories of Darwinian evolution and Biblical Creation in public schools. Larson has been a professor at the University of Georgia for 12 years. Last year, he was named a Russell Professor.

In addition to Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, published by Basic Books in 1997, Larson is the author two other books, Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South and Trial and Error: The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution and co-author of two technical books on law and medicine. He is presently working on a book on the history of scientific research in the Galapagos Islands.

Larson has written numerous articles for scholarly journals and has delivered lectures at universities in Australia, Europe, Africa, China and New Zealand. He has also appeared widely in the media since his book on the Scopes Trial was published, participating in programs on the History Channel, PBS and a variety of other media outlets. The PBS series "The American Experience" is currently producing an installment about his book on the Scopes Trial.

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Photos of Edward Larson are available from the University of Georgia's photographic services Web server (http://photo.alumni.uga.edu).

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