Darwin utterly changed our understanding of the source of the diversity of life on Earth, and with it, our origin. But is our origin story one of a multitude—or are we unique or, indeed, alone in the cosmos? With Darwin as our guide, we are now in a position to go forth and search. Join evolutionary biologist and astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild for a special talk hosted by the Yale Humanist Community in honor of Darwin Day. Free and open to the public.
Lynn Rothschild is passionate about the evolution of life on Earth or elsewhere, while at the same time pioneering the use of synthetic biology to enable space exploration. Just as travel abroad permits new insights into home, so too the search for life elsewhere allows a more mature scientific, philosophical and ethical perception of life on Earth. She wears these hats as a senior scientist NASA’s Ames Research Center as well as Adjunct Professor at Brown University, and the University of California Santa Cruz. Her research has focused on how life, particularly microbes, has evolved in the context of the physical environment, both here and potentially elsewhere. She is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, The California Academy of Sciences and the Explorer’s Club. In 2015 she was awarded the Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association, and was the recipient of the Horace Mann Award from Brown University.