A Festival
Cambridge, 6–10 July 2009
2009 sees the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work ‘On the origin of Species’.
You are warmly invited to attend a celebration to mark these two anniversaries.
Who is the Festival for?
The Festival is aimed at a broad audience. We should like to attract members of the public, school students (16+), undergraduate and graduate students, teachers and other professionals as well as academics and specialists.
What we are offering?
A festival of the science, society, literature, history, philosophy, theology, art and music arising from the work, writings, life and times of Charles Darwin.
How we shall do it?
Leading figures in science and the arts will come face to face with each other and the public. There will be talks, discussions, performances, workshops, exhibitions and tours; some formal, others relaxed, all bound in a festival atmosphere in and around the historic city of Cambridge.
Why we are doing it?
To excite, enthuse and explore the past, present and future of the natural world. To cultivate a deeper interest and understanding in science and the arts.
Speakers
.jpg)
Sir David Attenborough
Sir David Attenborough is to be Guest Speaker at the Festival Gala Dinner at Kings College on Thursday 9 July 2009.
Read more about Sir David Attenborough…
Other speakers include Lord (Tony) Giddens, Dr. Matt Ridley, Professor Lord Krebs, Professor Steve Jones, Dame Gillian Beer, Lord (Robert) May, Richard Dawkins and Professor Dan Dennett.
About Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) came to Christ’s College Cambridge as a student in 1827. He lived life to the full and through his love of natural sciences was chosen to be the gentleman naturalist on board HMS Beagle, setting sail on 27 December 1831.
‘The only evil at Cambridge was its being too pleasant’ Charles Darwin, letter to his cousin, March 1837
News
March 2007
Emma Wedgewood Darwin Diaries now online from March 2007.
March 2007
World Premier of Re: Design, a dramatisation of Darwin’s Correspondence with Asa Gray, botanist and professor of natural history at Harvard.
March 2007
Professor Alison Richard, Cambridge University Vice Chancellor will open the Darwin Festival at a Reception in the Botanic Garden on Sunday evening, 5 July 2009.