6 May 2011

Free evening talks in D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum

A series of free evening talks at the University of Dundee's D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum begins next week with an evening of poetry and prose inspired by the man from whom the museum takes its name.

Written and performed by students from the University's Creative Writing programmes, Notes from the Museum is the third annual literary celebration of D'Arcy Thompson and his extraordinary collections. Award-winning poet and Professor of Creative Writing Kirsty Gunn will provide the introduction at the event, which takes place from 6pm on Tuesday, 10th May.

Museum curator Matthew Jarron explained, 'These events always prove to be a real treat with beautiful and thought-provoking writing performed in the intimate but inspiring setting of the museum.

'This is the first of a series of talks held here, and the others also relate to D'Arcy Thompson's collections or interests in some way - including his links to the Dundee whalers and his early interest in environmental issues.'

The programme continues on 17th May when Rhona Rodger, social history curator at The McManus will be discussing the findings of the Dundee Whaling History Project, which has mapped and researched the various collections in the city relating to the whaling industry.

The concluding talk takes place on 7th June when Dr John Rowan will talk about his work as director of the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR), a partnership between the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute.

All three events take place at 6pm in the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, Carnelley Building on these dates. All are welcome, admission is free and tickets are available on the night.

For more information visit www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/zoology or contact Matthew Jarron on 01382 384310.

Notes to editors:

Professor Sir D’Arcy Thomspon Wentworth Thompson was born in Edinburgh in 1860, and went on to become a renowned and influential biologist, mathematician and classics scholar.

As the first Professor of Biology at University College Dundee, now the University of Dundee, he was a pioneer of life sciences in the city. He also spent many years working at the University of St Andrews, and a series of celebrations were held at both institutions last year to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Whilst at Dundee he created a Zoology Museum for teaching and research which was at the time one of the largest in the country. The collection specialised in Arctic zoology due to Professor Thompson’s links to the Dundee whalers. He personally undertook expeditions to the Bering Straits as a representative of the British Government and returned with many valuable specimens for his museum, some of which remain on display in the modern-day museum.

His seminal work On Growth and Form has been described as 'the finest work of literature in all the annals of science that have been recorded in the English tongue' and his influence extends beyond science into areas such as art, architecture, engineering and literature.

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