Indianapolis Prize Winner Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Monday, September 27th, 2010 :: 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly
Room
Four decades ago, Iain
Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the first in-depth scientific study of
elephant social behavior that has set the standard for every study
to follow. Douglas-Hamilton founded 'Save the Elephants' in 1983
and led emergency anti-poaching efforts in Uganda to bring the
elephant population there from the very brink of extinction. He has
testified before Congress on behalf of his beloved elephants
multiple times, leading to the African elephant bill, to date the
most successful funding program for the species.
His pioneering Global Positioning System (GPS) elephant
tracking, widely emulated in Africa and Asia, has become a model
survey technique. He recently partnered with Google Earth to show
elephant movement in real time via satellite images. For more than
forty years Iain Douglas-Hamilton has devoted himself to the study
and protection of African Elephants.
Because of his relentless, lifelong devotion to the elephants'
survival, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Ph.D., has been named the 2010
recipient of the Indianapolis Prize, the world's leading award for
animal conservation. The Indianapolis Prize is given to an
individual animal conservationist who has made significant
achievements in advancing the sustainability of an animal species
or group of species. The $100,000 biennial award brings the world's
attention to the cause of animal conservation and the brave,
talented and dedicated men and women who spend their lives saving
the world's endangered species. It represents the largest
individual monetary award for animal conservation in the world and
is given as an unrestricted gift to the chosen recipient.
An Evening with Visionaries: Energy, Design, and the Future of
Indianapolis
Presented by the Center for Urban Ecology and the J. James
Woods Lecture Series, Supported by Major Sponsor Energy
Solutions
Thursday, October 21st, 7:00 pm, Clowes Memorial Hall
Free of charge; ticket required Tickets available at the Clowes
Hall Box Office and Ticketmaster, ticketmaster fees apply
Spend the evening with two visionaries discussing the future of
ecological design in a post-carbon economy.
Bob Berkebile is a principal at BNIM Architects in Kansas City,
MO. He is a founding member of the US Green Building Council
(USGBC) and helped develop the Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating system.
David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of
Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College. He is best
known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher
education and his recent work in ecological design. He is the
author of six books including his most recent, "Down to the
Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse". Following the
presentation, we will hold a panel discussion that considers
innovative, sustainable design opportunities as they relate to the
City of Indianapolis.
Chymistry and Alchemy
Monday, November 8th, 7:30 pm, Pharmacy Building 150
Bill Newman's research interests focus
on early modern "chymistry", the combination of alchemy and early
chemistry. Newman's chymistry experiments replicate the works
of Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Daniel Sennert, and the first famous
American scientist, George Starkey. Newman is also the
general editor of "The Chymistry of Isaac Newton", an
integrated project that combines new research on Newton's chymistry
with an online edition of his manuscripts in both diplomatic and
normalized texts. His presentation will include
demonstrations of these historical experiments.
As a professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of
Science at IU Bloomington, Newman teaches courses on the history of
matter-theory and the history of early chemical technology. He has
been awarded fellowships, grants, and prizes from a wide variety of
foundations, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Dibner Institute
for the History of Science and Technology, and the National Science
Foundation. Newman was recently featured in the July-August
2010 issue of Discover Magazine as well as on NOVA: Newton's Dark
Secrets.
Spring 2011
The Virus Hunter - Nathan Wolfe
Tuesday, February 22, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room
Nathan Wolfe
rethinks pandemic control for our globalized world. By
concentrating on how epidemic diseases--such as HIV, SARS, and West
Nile--all stem from human contact with infected animals, he is able
to discover new threatening viruses where they first emerge. In
2009, Rolling Stone named him one of their "100 Agents of
Change", and Google and the Skoll foundation have given him over
$11 million in funding - making Wolfe, a Stanford University
professor, one of the leading minds in epidemiology and virology, a
man poised to eradicate pandemics before they even happen.
As the founder and director of the Global Viral Forecasting
Initiative--an acclaimed research institute monitoring outbreaks in
Africa and Asia--Wolfe is fueled by unwavering curiosity. "We have
the potential to explore a completely new biological world and go
out and really find new things all the time." A dynamic
field-oriented virologist, he has spoken, accessibly and
entertainingly, for the likes of TED and the National Institute for
Health. A Fulbright Fellow, Wolfe is the recipient of the National
Geographic Emerging Explorers Award.
Conservation, African Elephants and American Land Trusts
Presented by the Central Indiana Land Trust and the J. James
Woods Lecture Series
Monday, March
7, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room
Katy Payne started her career listening to the songs of the
humpback whale. That changed in 1984 after an encounter with
two Asian elephants at the Washington Park Zoo. She was
intrigued by the infrasonic calls made by the elephants that were
separated by their enclosures. Studies soon followed that
showed elephants use these low-frequency calls to coordinate their
social behavior over long distances. In 1999 the Elephant Listening
Project (ELP) was founded to further the use of acoustic methods to
study and aid in the conservation of forest elephants in Central
Africa.
Katy retired from the ELP in 2006, but is still involved with
its activities and projects. Her current interests include global
and local conservation efforts and the role of land trusts in
conservation. Payne will talk about her work with elephants
and the important role land trusts play in conservation. She
is the author of "Silent Thunder: In the Presence of
Elephants".
In Search of The Shape of The Universe
Tuesday, March 29, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room
In 2003 Grigoriy Perelman, a reclusive Russian
mathematician, announced that he had solved the Poincaré
Conjecture. This conjecture is one of the most famous
problems in mathematics and was considered to be virtually
unsolvable. Donal O'shea, the Dean of Faculty and Vice
President for Academic Affairs and Elizabeth T. Kennan
Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Mount Holyoke College
will be speaking about the amazing story of this 100 year old
theorem. The conjecture was presented in 1904 by mathematician
Henri Poincaré. O'Shea explores the history of the conjecture and
the lives of Poincaré, his predecessors, contemporaries, and
successors. O'Shea is also the author of " The Poincaré Conjecture:
In Search of the Shape of the Universe".