Public invited to celebrate Darwin Day at Gray Fossil Site
JOHNSON CITY – On Saturday, Feb. 8, visitors to the Gray Fossil Site will have the opportunity to join scientists for Darwin Day, an international celebration of science and the natural world.
This year, Darwin Day commemorates the 211th birthday of the famed 19th century naturalist Charles Darwin, whose research laid the foundation for modern understanding of life on Earth.
During the event, visitors can participate in educational family-friendly, hands-on activities and engage directly with scientists as they present diverse collections of fossils, insects, plants and more.
Participating partners in this year’s event will include Steele Creek Park, Bays Mountain Park, the Western North Carolina Nature Center, Mars Hill (North Carolina) University, Western Carolina University (WCU), and East Tennessee State University biologists, geoscientists, anthropologists and more.
Darwin Day activities will run from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and are free to the public. The Hands On! Discovery Center will also offer discounted admission for other exhibits and programs.
This year, there will also be a talk, “DIY Experimenting with the Darwins: A Guide to Darwin-inspired Experiments for Home and School” by Dr. James T. Costa of WCU. The talk will begin at 3:30 p.m., and will be appropriate for adults and older children. Some of Costa’s books on Charles Darwin will also be available, with a book-signing after the talk.
“Darwin Day is our most popular annual event at the Gray Fossil Site, drawing in visitors who want to learn more about nature and science,” noted Dr. Blaine Schubert, executive director of the ETSU Center of Excellence in Paleontology. “This year we will have more activities than last year, including a special talk on Darwin’s experiments, a visit from Charles Darwin, and a first-time visit from Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-founder of evolution by natural selection.”
The Gray Fossil Site is a one-of-a-kind paleontological resource preserving the remains of hundreds of extinct species that lived in East Tennessee 5 million years ago. Discovered in 2000 during road construction, the site is now home to the ETSU Museum of Natural History and the Hands On! Discovery Center. It is a hub of education and scientific research.
For more information, see https://visithandson.org/visit/ or email David Moscato at moscato@etsu.edu.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Hill
hill@etsu.edu
423-439-4317