[Flatow CANCELED due to weather.] As part of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library‘s exhibit, Darwin: The Origin of Influence, Ira Flatow, award-winning journalist, UB graduate, author, and host of National Public Radio’s popular “Science Friday” series, will speak on a uniquely human trait: creativity.
Today, February 6th, at 2PM, Flatow will speak in the library auditorium, 1 Lafayette Square, in this free and open to the public program. It is presented in collaboration with the University at Buffalo. Copies of several of Flatow’s books will be available for purchase and signing following his program, courtesy of Talking Leaves Books.
Flatow, a 1971 Engineering graduate of UB, began his radio career with UB-based NPR station WBFO, moving on to becoming Producer and Science Correspondent for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition” programs 1971-1987. He has produced and hosted NPR’s “Science Friday” weekly since 1991. His numerous TV credits include six years as host and writer for the Emmy Award-winning “Newton’s Apple” series on PBS; science reporter for “CBS This Morning”; commentator, “The Patent Files,” The History Channel’s multi-part series on the history of inventions; and anchoring Cablevision’s round table series, “Maximum Science.”
He has written numerous articles and publications and authored several books, his latest being Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature (2008). He is founder and president of Science Friday Initiative, a non-profit company dedicated to creating audio, video and Internet projects that make science “user friendly.”
The exhibition Darwin: The Origin of Influence, a collaboration between the Library and the University at Buffalo, brings together rare books and archival materials which examine the factors which influenced Darwin personally and as a scientist, and reveals his influence on post-Origin literary works. The collaboration was inspired by worldwide commemoration of Darwin and his world-changing work throughout 2009, the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most important work, On the Origin of Species.
The exhibit is located in the Library’s Rare Book Room on the main floor. It is open to the public during regular operating hours.
Note for families: If you get there early with the kids, the downtown Library is hosting a family activity day called “Wild Things!,” also free and open to the public, from 12 until 4PM. Craft activities, the animated movie “Madagascar,” and animal-related displays by Buffalo Audubon Society, Tifft Nature Preserve, Hawk Creek Wildlife Center, and Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve will be featured. The Buffalo Zoo will present a live-animal program at 1PM.