The last of a series of Vanderbilt University lectures dealing with the nature of consciousness and how it affects our views of religion, science, and philosophy has been moved to accommodate the overflow crowds that attended the first two.
Christof Koch will speak at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 4, on “Consciousness, Free Will, and God.” The lecture in Room 103 of Wilson Hall on the Vanderbilt campus is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
Koch, the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology at the California Institute of Technology, is the 2007 Templeton Research Lecturer at Vanderbilt. The author of The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, Koch pioneered the study of the neural basis of consciousness with his longtime collaborator, the late Francis Crick, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for his discovery (with James Watson) of the double helical shape of DNA.
This lecture will be webcast live in either Real Media or Windows Media.
The first two Koch lectures may be heard at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/lectures?id=33196 and http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/lectures?id=33225.
Koch’s visit is financed by a Templeton Research Lecture Grant, which brings at least $270,000 to Vanderbilt over three years to fund a research group, speakers, publications and a major conference. The grant was awarded by The Metanexus Institute, which advances research, education and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion. It runs some 300 projects in 30 nations, including the Templeton Research Lectures funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
The Templeton Lectures are hosted by the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture’s project on science and religion. Professor Volney Gay (Religion) and Professor Richard Haglund (Physics) are the co-principal investigators.
Media Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu