NJIT Professor David Rothenberg, author of Survival of the Beautiful (Bloomsbury Press, 2011) will present his revolutionary examination of the interplay between beauty, art and culture in evolution in a lecture May 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown. The talk is the last in a three-part lecture series exploring the intersection of art and science. Tickets are $15: To register, call 973.971.3706. Rothenberg will provide music with his lecture. Dessert and coffee will be served following the program.
Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution takes inspiration from Darwin's observations that animals have a natural aesthetic sense. Rothenberg probes why animals, humans included, have an innate appreciation for beauty—and why nature is beautiful. The beauty of nature is not arbitrary, even if random mutation has played a role in evolution. What we can learn from the amazing range of animal aesthetic behavior—about animals, and about ourselves—are just a few of the many questions the book raises.
In Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound (Basic Books, 2008), as well as the same-named CD, Rothenberg chronicled the rich, underwater universe of whale sound. To produce the material, Rothenberg traveled from Hawaii to Russia to play his bass clarinet while recording the sounds of whales in their native habitats. Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association, named the text one of the ten best science and technology books for 2008.
Why Birds Sing (Basic Books, 2005) was Rothenberg's first general interest book to examine bird song from the combined perspectives of science, music, and poetry and was the culmination of his interdisciplinary work since he began teaching at NJIT in 1992. Why Birds Sing has been published in the U.S., England, Australia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Korea, China, and Taiwan as both a book and compact disc.
For more information about Rothenberg, please visit http://www.njit.edu/news/experts/rothenberg.php.
The Morris Museum is an award-winning, community-based arts and cultural institution which serves the public through the presentation of high caliber permanent and changing exhibitions in the arts, sciences and humanities. The Museum also offers educational programs, family events, and is home to the Bickford Theatre and its wide range of performing arts offerings. Continuously serving the public since 1913, the Morris Museum has been designated a Major Arts Institution and has received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts' Citation of Excellence, among other awards.
NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 9,558 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2011 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Office of Continuing Professional Education.