"In the Company of Scholars" Dean's Lecture Series

Beverly Gage, Yale professor of 20th-century U.S. history, speaks at the 'In the Company of Scholars Lecture', entitled 'J. Edgar Hoover and the Rise of Modern Conservatism'. This lecture will take place here on YouTube Live on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 4pm EST.

We live in an age where there seems to be no higher moral imperatives than those associated with parenting. At the same time that there has been a decline in religious orthodoxy, the expectations of what it means to be a parent have become more orthodox. Not that more parents are religious, but that more people treat parenting religiously. This talk explores how this came to be, arguing that parenting is usefully understood through the interdisciplinary matrix of religious studies.

Experiments at CERN have announced statistically compelling evidence for a new state with properties that roughly match those expected for the Higgs Boson, one of the last puzzle pieces in the standard model of particle physics. After putting the Higgs search in its historical and scientific context, the search and the evidence for the new state will be briefly presented. The search for the Higgs has taught us lessons beyond science and those will also be discussed.

Geological science gives a unique perspective on humans' evolving place within the natural world. My research delves into the past motions of continents through billions of years of Earth history. Aside from the academic implications for the inner workings and changing surface environments of our planet, this work also provides a framework for understanding patterns in the distribution of natural resources such as metal ore deposits and fossil fuels. After illustrating the long-term paleogeographic history of our planet, this talk will conclude with speculations on how human society may fare in the not-too-distant future, beyond our current age of unprecedented resource extraction and high standard of living.

Join us for the In the Company of Scholars lecture on April 16, 2014. Gary Tomlinson, John Hay Whitney Professor of Music and the Humanities, and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center lectures on "One Million Years of Music: The Emergence of Human Modernity".