Famed Author Jared Diamond Speaks March 30 at USU

Utah State University welcomes renowned author and celebrated scientist Jared Diamond to campus Thursday, March 30. Alternately described as an evolutionary biologist, physiologist and biogeographer, Diamond speaks at 4:30 p.m. in the Kent Concert Hall of USU’s Chase Fine Arts Center. His talk is free and open to the public.

“Diamond is one of the great scientific minds of our time,” says James MacMahon, USU trustee professor and director of USU’s Ecology Center. “His visit is a rare opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.”

 

A professor at the University of California/Los Angeles, Diamond received the Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 blockbuster, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. The book explores the geographic, cultural, environmental and technological factors that led to Western culture’s domination of the world. His 2004 bestseller, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, investigates why some of the great civilizations of the past fell to ruin and others prevailed.

 

Diamond’s other books include The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal and Why is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality.

 

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Diamond is the recipient of a number of prestigious science awards, including the MacArthur Foundation Genius grant. In 2000, he received the National Medal of Science for his influential research in evolutionary biology.

 

A presentation of the Associated Students of Utah State University’s Arts and Lectures series, Diamond’s talk is sponsored by the Student Activity Board, the Ecology Center, USU’s colleges of Agriculture, Science, and Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, the USU Vice President for Research office, Utah Public Radio and KVNU Radio.

 

Parking for the lecture is available west of the Fine Arts Center, northeast of the center in the Nutrition and Food Science (Aggie Ice Cream) parking lot and in the university parking terrace at 850 East 700 North. The Kent Concert Hall is within walking distance of the Logan Transit District Route 1 and 4 bus stop at the Veterinary Science building on 700 North.