Stamford Raffles Lecture 2011

21 Jun 2011 – 6:15 pm - 9:30 pm

We are delighted to announce that Professor Armand Marie Leroi will give the 2011 Stamford Raffles Lecture.

Possible Creatures: an evolutionary vision

The beating heart of the theory of evolution is Darwin’s great idea, Natural Selection. It’s the explanation for the design that creatures show – or at least the only rational one going. Today evolutionary theory is a magnificent edifice – far more sophisticated than anything Darwin himself could have dreamt of. And yet it is also inadequate. That is because we know so little about how creatures actually build themselves, and so how they shape their own evolutionary futures. The task of 21st century biology, then, is to compute the creature: to find the rules that lie between a genome and a living, breathing, mating, reproducing thing. And then our task will be to compute all possible creatures – and perhaps even predict the future of life.

Biography for Professor Armand Marie Leroi

Armand Marie Leroi was born in Wellington, New Zealand. A Dutch citizen, his youth was spent in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. He studied at Dalhousie University, University of California Irvine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2001 he was appointed to a lectureship at Imperial College London where he is now Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology. His primary research concerns the control and evolution of life histories.

Armand Marie Leroi is the author of the popular book Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body (2003), for which he was awarded the Guardian First Book Award and the Zoological Society of London’s BIOSIS Award. In 2004 his book was adapted into a Channel 4 documentary series. He has written and presented several television series, including Alien Worlds in 2005 and What Makes Us Human in 2006. More recently he has presented What Darwin Did Not Know and Darwin’s Secret Notebooks in 2009. In 2010 he presented the documentary Aristotle's Lagoon.

This lecture will be preceded by the ZSL Scientific Awards presentation ceremony

Please note that this event has already taken place

Guests are requested to arrive by 6.15pm; the event will begin at 6.30pm prompt and latecomers may not be admitted to avoid disrupting the speaker. A reception will follow and is scheduled between 8.00 and 9.30pm.

All places for the lecture and reception must be booked in advance. Places are limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be no individual seat allocations but please see above diagram for Meeting Rooms layout for this event.

Please download booking form for further information.

Booking
Full rate: £20; Student/ZSL Friends and Fellows rate: £15.
Please note that the booking deadline is Friday 10 June 2011.

Become a ZSL member today to register at the discounted rate

Further information: please contact Megan Orpwood-Russell, Scientific Events Coordinator, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY.
Tel:+44 (0)20 7449 6227. Fax: +44 (0)20 7449 6411. E-mail: megan.orpwood-russell@zsl.org