Past Event | The question that stumped Darwin; ants & evolution

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jacquelyn.sundberg [at] mcgill.ca (Jacquelyn Sundberg), ROAAr, McGill Library

lauren.williams [at] mcgill.ca (Lauren Williams), Blacker Wood Librarian 

Prof. Chris Buddle (Left) and Prof. Ehab Abouheif

When: 26 February 2019
Location: Rare Books and Special Collections, 4th Floor McLennan Library Building, 3459 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C9, CA

Description

Guest: Prof. Ehab Abouheif, McGill Biology

Dr. Abouheif's lab has made impressive strides in the field of EcoEvoDevo. Given the fast pace of scientific research, Abouheif asks "why look to the past?" His talk at ROAAr emphasized the conversation between the past and the future that has informed his research. The question that has gone unanswered since the time of Charles Darwin concerns the drastic range in size of ants within a colony - from minor workers through the enormous soldier and supersoldier ants. Dr. Abouheif's lab has provided some answers to those questions. Dr. Abouheif sees the potential for historical materials and studies to inform modern research. His work is a compelling example of this idea - and it can be extended in a number of fascinating different directions. As we saw, theories that were abandoned in the past because of technological limitations are often worth re-considering now, and can inspire really unique approaches to modern questions.

On display at the event were selections from the Blacker Wood Collection, curated by Lauren Williams. These included not only the first edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species, but also the original publication in the Journal of the Linnean Society, where Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace first discussed the idea of natural selection in their paper: On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties - almost a full year before Origin of Species was published.

Materials can be consulted in the Rare Books and Archives Reading room Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Contact lauren.williams [at] mcgill.ca for reference guidance. 

Rare natural history books laid out on display on a large table

 

 

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