Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Darwin Day Participation Triples!

From: "Dr.R.Stephens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 03:51:14 +0000

Darwin Day Celebration

AN INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITY

2682 Middlefield Rd., Suite P, Redwood City, CA  94063-3467  l 
 [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>  l  650-701-1948

DDC logo

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE    2/7/2006 at 6:00 a.m. PST

Contacts:

    Darwin Day Celebration (DDC) Web site: darwinday.org

    Bob Stephens, Ph.D.:  [email-masked]  (President, Darwin Day
    Celebration, a tax-deductible 501(c)3 organization) Telephone  #
    650-701-1948.
    William Calvin, Ph.D.: [email-masked]    (DDC Advisory Board)
    Daniel C. Dennett, Ph.D.: [email-masked]    (DDC Advisory Board)
    Steve Jones Ph.D.: [email-masked]    (DDC Advisory Board)
    Carl Zimmer, Ph.D.: [email-masked]    (DDC Advisory Board)

*February 12 is Darwin Day 2006, the Celebration of Science and Humanity!*

Over 500 scholarly and religious institutions around the world are 
celebrating the discoveries of Charles Darwin around "Darwin Day", 
February 12, with discussions, debates, sermons, films, feasts and other 
fun, to honor and explore Science and Humanity.  

Darwin Day Celebration, a nonprofit organization, has been building 
support for this modern celebration for over 5 years with a Web site and 
email contacts.  "In the past year the number of celebrations that we 
know about has more than tripled", according to founder and President, 
Dr. Robert (Bob) Stephens.  Events will take place across the world for 
Darwin's 197th birthday this year, building toward the Bicentennial 
Birthday of both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, 2009.  

The general public is invited to many Celebrations at universities 
across the United States, from Stanford and UC Berkeley in the West, to 
the University of Wisconsin, Eastern Illinois University and Rice 
University in the heartland, and to Cornell, Rutgers, Salem College and 
the Univ. of Tennessee in the East.  Museums, libraries, freethought 
groups, schools and churches have all responded in surprising numbers, 
Stephens said.  There is also strong international participation such as 
that in England, which includes a month long Darwin Festival in the 
beautiful town of Shrewsbury, Darwin's birthplace.  Italy is well 
represented with 34 events, 15 of which are at top universities, 
including one of the oldest universities in the world, Padua University 
in the city of Padua.  In addition, events will be held in Canada, 
Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Nigeria, Bangladesh, 
Brazil, India, Pakistan, Guatemala, and even at the top of the world in 
Nepal.
 
One of the major goals for the Darwin Day staff during the remainder of 
2006 will be to include many additional languages on our website, so 
that by the fall of 2006 we will be able to directly invite people from 
around the world to join in the Darwin Day festivities in their own 
languages.
 
"Everyone is invited to visit our educational website at DarwinDay.org", 
said Stephens, "and to contemplate the potential role that modern 
science is playing to bring all humans together.  Current research in 
the field of genetics, including that on the human genome, has 
conclusively shown that all humans are essentially identical and that we 
are genetically related to all other living things on this planet.  Thus 
an enlightened view of genetics is one of unity and equality among all 
humans and also one that fosters a deeper sense of respect and 
appreciation for all life.  We believe that Charles Darwin is a worthy 
symbol on which to focus, in order to build a Global Celebration of 
Science and Humanity that is intended to promote a common bond among all 
people of the earth."
 
Happy Darwin Day!
###