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AMHERST, Mass. - Stephen Jay Gould, professor of geology at Harvard University, will talk on "The Fact of Evolution and the Politics of Creationism" on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 4 p.m. in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. The annual Croxton Fund Lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and tickets are required. Tickets are reserved for first-year students and faculty of Amherst College. This event will also be shown on closed-circuit television in Lecture Room 2 in the Merrill Science Center. No tickets are necessary. The lecture will also be available on Amherst College cable television.

Stephen Jay Gould has written prolifically about Charles Darwin, natural selection and evolution, and has made his name as a public scientist. Honoring Gould with its first public service award earlier this year, the Geological Society of America said, "As an outstanding and dedicated scientist, he bridges the worlds of geology, biology, planetary science and philosophy. Few scientists are so well prepared to address the issues of our planetary welfare, and few can do it as honestly or wittily."

Scrupulous science and sharp wit also grace Gould's elegant essays in "This View of Life," the Natural History column he has written for years. Many of his writings have been collected into books.

Gould's many works of scholarly and popular science include Ever Since Darwin (1977), The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), Hen's Teeth and Horses' Toes (1983), The Flamingo's Smile (1985), Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (1987), An Urchin in the Storm (1987), Wonderful Life (1989), Bully for Brontosaurus (1991), Eight Little Piggies (1993), Dinosaur in a Haystack (1995), Full House (1996), Questioning the Millennium (1997), Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (1998), Rocks of Ages (1999) and The Lying Stones of Marrakech (2000).

The Croxton Lecture Fund was created in 1988 by William M. Croxton '36 in memory of his parents, Ruth L. and Hugh W. Croxton. Income from this Fund is used to bring lecturers with substantial reputations to Amherst College for the purposes of educating Amherst students. A broad range of views will be represented by Croxton Lecturers.

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