AOF Activities & Events
Glorious Trees: Alfred Russel Wallace in California
Presenting the 22nd fabulous year of the Darwin Day Birthday Gala, Sacramento's coolest, most singular, most go-to event of science and human reason, brought to you by area science advocates, civic groups and nerds on too much coffee. Marking Charles Darwin's 211th birthday, this one will occur at the cavernous yet cozy John Smith Hall of the La Sierra Community Center in Carmichael.
Darwin Day is a science-rush like no other, a celebration of scientific inquiry honoring of the life and work of the great Charles Darwin (b. 12 February 1809), sponsored worldwide by community and educational groups. It's not exactly an AOF event, but AOF helped establish the local celebration, and continues to support it and commend it to all our friends in the Sacramento community of reason. Because science! And what's science but reason in the trenches?
For the respectable history of this mind-growing event, visit https://americanhumanist.org/what-we-do/darwin-day/.
Doors will open at 2 o’clock post meridiem, the main program to begin at 2:30. Arrive early, tour the display tables, visit the vendors, grab some science swag, then find a cozy seat. Relax and enjoy the opening entertainment. Then get ready for the feature: Calaveras County journalist and historian Sal Manna. Mr. Manna’s presentation will focus on the 1887 visit to California of one of the world’s most famous men of science, Englishman Alfred Russel Wallace. Around the same time as Darwin, you may know, Wallace developed the cornerstone of natural selection and the theory of evolution.
This presentation, gleaned from Manna’s book, Glorious Trees: Alfred Russel Wallace in California, will describe Wallace’s nearly two-month sojourn in Northern California, from San Francisco to Stockton, from his visits to the wonders of Yosemite and the Calaveras Big Trees to his meeting with pivotal figures such as John Muir and Leland Stanford; from a sensational séance and his support of Spiritualism to his lectures on Darwinism.
After the presentation, more entertainment will round the event, plus snacks and of course yummy Darwin Birthday Cake. (It is a birthday party, after all!)
Admission just $10 thru Feb 5, $15 at the door, or $5 with a current Student ID. For details or ticket purchase click to the main event website, https://www.sacdarwinday.org/ ... or:
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