Celebrating Charles Darwin
Darwin Days 2025 explores hominins, whales, evolution education, and more!
February 12th – 15th
Darwin Day is an annual, international commemoration of the birthday and ideas of Charles Darwin, a British naturalist born February 12, 1809, and author of the seminal book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
The first organized Darwin Day events took place in 1995, and were organized by the Humanist Community of Palo Alto, California. The years since have seen Darwin Day celebrations around the world increasing annually at a steady rate.
In 2006, the Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth, in collaboration with Cornell University and Ithaca College, celebrated the first official Darwin Days in Ithaca, New York, with a five-day series of panel discussions, film screenings, speakers, and workshops, aimed at increasing awareness of Darwin’s theory and its relevance today, in the Ithaca community and beyond.
Join us this year from February 12- 15 to celebrate the work of Charles Darwin and the study of evolution. We will explore hominid evolution with John Gurche, recognize World Whale Day, and consider perspectives on education since Darwin’s day.
Most programs for this event this year are offered free of charge, but please consider contributing to our educational programs so that we can continue to offer resources and information to our community.
Facing our relatives: The discovery, analysis, and reconstruction of the ancient Harbin cranium
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 @ 7:00 pm EST – Museum of the Earth – Pay What You Wish Admission
Come hear John Gurche talk about the intersection of science and art in bringing to life an Ice Age hominin from northeastern China featured on the cover of the most recent issue of National Geographic. John is a world-renowned paleoartist and PRI’s artist-in-residence.
Note: Due to restrictions from National Geographic, which supports John to do the work he’ll be presenting, this talk may not be filmed or livestreamed.
John Gurche, Artist-in-Residence, Paleontological Research Institution
What Darwin Can Teach Us about Today’s Students, and Where Are We on Teaching Today’s Students about Darwin?
Thursday, February 13, 2025 @ 7:00 pm EST – Virtual
Dr. Wiles will explore how Darwin struggled with many of the same issues our students do today and how to see the greatness that lies in our students even when they aren’t wowing us at the moment. He’ll also cover some recent developments in evolution education around how we measure evolution acceptance.
Dr. Jason R. Wiles, Associate Professor of Biology, Syracuse University
Saturday, February 15, 2025 @ 10:00 am to 4:00 pm EST
Museum of the Earth
Family Day will celebrate World Whale Day. It will include family activities and feature a talk about the study and conservation of North Atlantic right whales, the sort of whale that hangs in the Museum of the Earth.
Schedule of Activities:
10:00 am – 5:00 pm: Family – friendly whale activities in the Borg Warner gallery
11:00 am: Featured Talk How do scientists count critically endangered whales? A story of audio, airplanes, and AI. Come hear Cornell University whale researchers Marissa Garcia and Irina Tolkova discuss their latest research, listening to underwater sounds to estimate the population sizes of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Marissa Garcia is a PhD candidate and Irina Tolkova is a postdoctoral researcher at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University.