Noted biologist Jared Diamond is Olin lecturer

Jared Diamond, a scientist whose studies in evolutionary biology have overturned long-held theories of human development, will give the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture Sunday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alice Statler Auditorium at Cornell.

The event is free and open to the public but tickets are required. They are available at Willard Straight Hall ticket office.

Diamond's original research and application of Darwinian theory to the fields of physiology, ecology, conservation biology and human history won him a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award as well as a 1999 National Medal of Science from the National Science Foundation, presented to him by President Clinton last March.

Diamond also garnered a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society (Random House, 1997). The book looks at the early development of humans and proposes why Eurasian societies evolved more rapidly than societies living on other continents during the same era. He attributes their dominance chiefly to ecological differences between the continents that led to better and more widespread food production throughout Eurasia and the proliferation of species of animals suited to domestication.

"I discovered that history turned out differently for various peoples due to differences in their environment," said Diamond. "It had nothing to do with imagined differences in their IQs. This book challenges the intellectual basis for racism."

Diamond, who is a professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of California-Los Angeles, is also widely recognized as a founder of conservation biology. He has helped preserve endangered species by identifying what makes some animal populations more vulnerable to extinction than others.

The National Science Foundation has commended Diamond for his passion and rare skills at interpreting important scientific issues for the public.

He is a contributing editor for Discover and writes regularly for the "News and View" section of the journal Nature.

The Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture Series began at Cornell in 1986 when the Olin Foundation established an endowment to support graduate students who have demonstrated exceptional ability and promise. As part of their experience, the Olin fellows select and host a lecture by a distinguished intellectual, annually. In addition, the Olin lecturer usually meets with the fellows in informal seminars and social events.

Previous Olin lecturers have included Stephen Jay Gould, David Macaulay, Jane Goodall, Noam Chomsky, Isabel Allende, Lani Guinier, Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Faludi.