In 2009 the world will celebrate the centennial of Darwin's birth (12 February 1809) and the sesquicentennial of his publication of On the origin of species (24 November 1859). Those are the events of most significance to a biologist, but there are many more. To celebrate these events more than 400 scientific societies, universities, colleges, museums, and school organizations are participating in a Year of Science 2009. Among the participating societies is the Botanical Society of America. It's kicking off its participation in the Year of Science with a special issue of the American Journal of Botany devoted to Darwin's "abominable mystery." All papers from the special January issue are available without charge during the month of December. Click through for the press release.
Darwin Bicentennial Issue: The Abominable Mystery
In 2009, researchers from many fields will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. In reflecting on how Darwin influenced the field of botany, and in honor of his bicentennial, the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org <http://www.amjbot.org/> ) is publishing a special issue for January, 2009 that presents a series of articles on Darwin's "abominable mystery": the rapid origin, evolution, and rise to dominance of flowering plants.
The problem as Darwin originally saw it and how these ideas are used today often do not coincide. The new issue of the AJB explores many different facets of this problem, starting with the introduction to the entire special issue by Profs. Ruth A. Stockey (Univ. of Alberta), Sean W. Graham (Univ. of British Columbia) and Sir Peter R. Crane (Univ. of Chicago). This is followed by an article by Prof. William (Ned) Friedman of the University of Colorado. Based on the letters of Charles Darwin to prominent botanists and paleobotanists of his day, Friedman explores the real meaning of the "abominable mystery" and what factors influenced Darwin's thinking at the time.
Just as Darwin and his contemporaries did not agree on their scientific theories, our authors provide a wide range of expertise-and often differences of opinion-on the topics presented in the issue. The abominable mystery is still as hot a topic today as it was in 1879, when Darwin first penned this most frequently quoted phrase, and this issue assembles a group of papers from such diverse approaches as history of science, anatomy, morphology, paleobotany, pollination biology, molecular systematics, genetics, and ecology.
We hope that readers come away with an up-to-date view of the prevailing ideas on angiosperm origins and a sense of our progress in the last 200 years toward understanding Darwin's "abominable mystery."
For a free preview of Friedman's article, go to http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0800150v1; other free articles can be accessed at http://www.amjbot.org/papbyrecent.dtl. To sign up for advance notification of future articles concerning Darwin and other American Journal of Botany articles, go to http://www.amjbot.org/subscriptions/etoc.shtml.
The Botanical Society of America (www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org <http://www.amjbot.org/> ) for nearly 100 years. For further information, please contact Richard Hund, Project Manager of the American Journal of Botany, at rhund@botany.org or Amy McPherson, Managing Editor of the American Journal of Botany, at amcpherson@botany.org.
In 2009, researchers from many fields will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. In reflecting on how Darwin influenced the field of botany, and in honor of his bicentennial, the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org <http://www.amjbot.org/> ) is publishing a special issue for January, 2009 that presents a series of articles on Darwin's "abominable mystery": the rapid origin, evolution, and rise to dominance of flowering plants.
The problem as Darwin originally saw it and how these ideas are used today often do not coincide. The new issue of the AJB explores many different facets of this problem, starting with the introduction to the entire special issue by Profs. Ruth A. Stockey (Univ. of Alberta), Sean W. Graham (Univ. of British Columbia) and Sir Peter R. Crane (Univ. of Chicago). This is followed by an article by Prof. William (Ned) Friedman of the University of Colorado. Based on the letters of Charles Darwin to prominent botanists and paleobotanists of his day, Friedman explores the real meaning of the "abominable mystery" and what factors influenced Darwin's thinking at the time.
Just as Darwin and his contemporaries did not agree on their scientific theories, our authors provide a wide range of expertise-and often differences of opinion-on the topics presented in the issue. The abominable mystery is still as hot a topic today as it was in 1879, when Darwin first penned this most frequently quoted phrase, and this issue assembles a group of papers from such diverse approaches as history of science, anatomy, morphology, paleobotany, pollination biology, molecular systematics, genetics, and ecology.
We hope that readers come away with an up-to-date view of the prevailing ideas on angiosperm origins and a sense of our progress in the last 200 years toward understanding Darwin's "abominable mystery."
For a free preview of Friedman's article, go to http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0800150v1; other free articles can be accessed at http://www.amjbot.org/papbyrecent.dtl. To sign up for advance notification of future articles concerning Darwin and other American Journal of Botany articles, go to http://www.amjbot.org/subscriptions/etoc.shtml.
The Botanical Society of America (www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org <http://www.amjbot.org/> ) for nearly 100 years. For further information, please contact Richard Hund, Project Manager of the American Journal of Botany, at rhund@botany.org or Amy McPherson, Managing Editor of the American Journal of Botany, at amcpherson@botany.org.
Leave a comment