ST. PETERSBURG SCIENTIFIC CENTRE OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
St. Petersburg Branch of the S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology
V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute, St. Petersburg
Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg
Institute of Cytology, St. Petersburg
I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG STATE UNIVESTITY
Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences
Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders
ST. PETERSBURG SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS
International conference
CHARLES DARWIN AND MODERN BIOLOGY
St. Petersburg, Russia, 21-23 September, 2009
The conference is convened to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Charles
Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of his famous book On
the Origin of Species'. It is intended to discuss theoretical problems and the
history of modern evolutionary biology, the impact of Darwin's ideas upon
science and humanity in the 19th-20th centuries and the key role, which
evolutionary theory continues to play in responding to the challenges of the
21st century.
The conference seeks to address the following issues:
I. The development of modern evolutionary theory and its prospects; recent
discoveries in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, ecology,
ethology, physiology, developmental biology, morphology, palaeontology,
anthropology and theory of evolution.
1. Correlation between micro- and macroevolution: evolution on the molecular
and phenotype levels; the regulation of genome and the origin of higher taxa;
the role of duplication and mobile genetic elements in the regulation of genome
and in the evolutionary process, the evolution of functions and functional
evolution, molecular evolution and phylogenetics.
2. Species and speciation: various concepts of species, their genetic and
ecological structure, the founder principle and the species selection.
3. Microevolution: genetic drift, natural, sexual and other types of
selection; behaviour as a factor of evolution.
4. Macroevolution: saltationism and gradualism, the speciation and the origin
higher level taxa, individual development and evolution, symbiogenesis.
5. Megaevolution: the origins of life and the interaction of evolutionary
transformations on different levels of the organisation of life - from molecular
one to the level of biosphere, the origins and evolution of biosphere.
6. Anthropogenesis and the problem of human evolution in contemporary biology.
1I. The Darwinian revolution' in historical perspective, its impact upon
science, philosophy, ideology, society and politics in the 19th-20th centuries.
1. Charles Darwin and the making of the theory of natural selection.
2. "Darwinian" and "Non-Darwinian" revolutions in biology of the late 19th -
early 20th centuries.
3. Multiple paths of the evolutionary synthesis in the 20th century.
4. Evolutionary theory in the divided word' between liberalism, communism
and national-socialism.
5. Creationism and evolutionism in the early 21st century.
The languages of the conference are Russian and English.
Proposals for papers will be accepted until 1 October, 2008. They should include
applicant's full name, his/her institutional affiliation, paper title and
800-signs abstract.
Proceedings of the conference will be published. Accepted papers should be sent
by 15 February, 2009. They should not exceed 2 pages (4000 signs with spaces) in
rtf format, Times New Roman, 12 pt., 1,5 space between the lines.
Organising committee:
President: Zhores I. Alferov, the Chair of St.Petersburg Scientific Centre,
Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nobel-prise winner, full
member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Co-chairs:
Igor A. Gorlinsky, the Dean of Biology and Soil Research Department, St.
Petersburg State University, Vice-rector on academic affairs of St. Petersburg
State University;
Sergei G. Inge-Vechtomov, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Vice-chair of St. Petersburg Scientific Centre, Director of St. Petersburg
Branch of the N. I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, the Russian Academy
of Sciences;
Eduard I. Kolchinsky, Director of St. Petersburg Branch of S.I. Vavilov
Institute for the History of Science and Technology, the Russian Academy of
Sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University
Programme Committee:
Co-chairs: Sergei G. Inge-Vechtomov, Eduard I. Kolchinsky, Eduard A. Tropp
Secretary: Anastasia A. Fedotova
Please, address submissions and enquiries to:
St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology
Universitetskaya nab. 5
Phone: +7 812 328 47 12
Fax: +7 812 328 46 67
Email: darwin2009@mail.ru
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