This humorous lecture deals with the problems and anxieties that Americans in the late eighteenth century faced regarding the findings of the Comte de Buffon, Europe's leading naturalist. Buffon was the most influential scientist of his day and his discoveries that species were not the same the world over, that the planet was much older than the Biblical account suggested, and that plant and animal species were biologically related in complex ways would influence scientists for more than a century. But it was his theory that the climate of the New World was deleterious to all living creatures that created the greatest sensation in the United States. Many American intellectuals, including Thomas Jefferson, took these findings very seriously.

Gordon S. Wood is the Alva O. Way University Professor and professor of history at Brown University. His 1969 book, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, received the Bancroft and John H. Dunning prizes and was nominated for the National Book Award. His 1992 book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Emerson Prize. Wood's latest book, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different will be published in May 2006, by the Penguin Press.

This program is open to the public and free of charge; however, first preference will be given to teachers and administrators in the Worcester, Millbury, and Sutton, Massachusetts, school systems. Everyone interested in attending this program should register in advance by contacting Cheryl McRell at 508-471-2149 or cmcrell@mwa.org.