Pulitzer Prize winner to speak at UAF

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
03/15/06

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond will visit Fairbanks March 28 for a public lecture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Diamond will speak on his most recent bestseller, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." A question and answer session will follow the lecture and Diamond will be available to sign books after the program. The lecture will be held at 6 p.m. in the Charles Davis Concert Hall and is free and open to the public.

Diamond will visit Anchorage prior to arriving in Fairbanks. He is also slated to visit with UAF faculty and students during his time in the Interior.

Diamond, a geography professor at UCLA, is the author of several bestselling books and has received some of the world’s most prestigious science awards. His best-known work is Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. His most recent book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, builds on the foundation of Guns, Germs and Steel and has garnered wide critical acclaim.

His awards include the country’s highest civilian science award, The National Medal of Science, which recognizes his research and discoveries in evolutionary biology, and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, in recognition of his contributions to the field of conservation biology.

Diamond holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree in physiology and membrane biophysics from Cambridge University. His career has touched on numerous scientific fields, including biology, physiology, ecology, environmental history and geography.

Diamond’s visit is sponsored by the University of Alaska integrated geography program, UA Academic Affairs and Research, BP and ConocoPhillips.

CONTACT: Integrated Geography Program Director Mike Sfraga at (907) 474-7494 or via e-mail at mike.sfraga@alaska.edu . UAF Public Information Officer Marmian Grimes at (907) 474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu .