Imagine a process involving 30 million species of flora, fauna,
and microorganisms that interact automatically to regulate the Earth's
temperature and the chemistry of the air and oceans. That's the basic
premise to be outlined in "Gaia To Microcosm," the Eleventh Nevada Medal
Lecture by Dr. Lynn Margulis at the University of Nevada, Reno, April 22.
Margulis is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and
Distinguished Professor of Microbiology at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. Long considered an innovative and sometimes
revolutionary thinker, Margulis is a leading proponent of the
controversial Gaia concept which is rapidly gaining adherents as
scientists investigate the factors affecting global environmental processes.
The Nevada Medal Lecture, free to the public, begins at 4 p.m.
in Room 2030 of UNR's New College of Education Building. Margulis will
formally receive the 1998 Nevada Medal April 23 in award ceremonies at
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas following a lecture at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas.
The debate on the Gaia hypothesis is only Margulis' most recent
challenge to the scientific status quo. In the 1970s she introduced the
radical Theory of Endosymbiosis, arguing that early microbial evolution
included the combining of simple organisms to create higher life forms, a
departure from the Darwinian concept of survival by more successful
mutations. Her book, "Symbiogenesis in Cell Evolution" (2nd edition,
1993) is now considered a classic of 20th century biology.
Margulis' current research, funded by NASA, is an effort to assess what kind of microbial life may have existed on other planets. She has also authored several books on science for non-scientists, and produces educational material for science for all grade levels.