Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel, is the epitome of the celebrity scientist. His lectures routinely draw thousands of rapt listeners, who walk away with a deeper and more nuanced view of the development of human civilization and the continued gulf between rich and poor in the global community.

With the recent publication of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, a major international bestseller, Diamond’s ideas are reaching an even wider audience than the million-plus readers of Guns, Germs, and Steel. Collapse inspired an international museum exhibit that recently toured North America. Meanwhile, a three-part national television special on Guns, Germs, and Steel aired on PBS. Diamond’s lectures tackle the giant questions: Why do some societies thrive and prosper while others shrivel and die? How can humanity maximize the opportunity for human happiness while saving the planet from ecological ruin and collapse? Are there lessons we can learn from other great civilizations that have grown to world dominance?

Currently a professor of Geography at UCLA, he is the author of two other best-selling books, The Third Chimpanzee and Why Is Sex Fun? In 2000, he was awarded the USA’s highest civilian scientific award, The National Medal of Science, for his landmark research and breakthrough discoveries in evolutionary biology.

[Davidson Distinguished Lecture Series]